Overview of Rapid Solidification Technology

Abstract

Rapid solidification technology (RST) employs cooling rates in excess of 10³–10⁴ K/s during solidification of the melt m order to develolp materials with improved mechanical and/or physical properties. The high cooling rates achieved by rapid solidification processes produce significant microstructural modifications including refined grain size, enhanced solid solubility, refinement of the segregation pattern an the development of metastable phases including metallic glasses. In this review, the effects of rapid solidification on microstructural development are examined, and various rapid solidification processes are described. Current efforts to apply rapid solidification in a number of alloy systems, including Al-, Cu-, Fe-, Ni-, Sn- and Ti-base alloys, are summarized. The development of metallic glasses has been an important outgrowth of RST. The formation, the unique properties and the potential applications of metallic glasses are described.