Abstract: The interface morphologies and microstruetures of the directionally solidified Ni-5wt-% Cu alloy during dendrite-to-cell transition at high growth rates have been investigated with a newly developed apparatus for unidirectional solidification with the temperature gradient at the solid/liquid interface higher than 1000 K/cm.The results show that in the vicinity of dendrite-to-cell transition point,the well developed sidebranches become shrivelled with the increase of growth rate and disappear at the dendrite-to-cell transition,and the primary spacing decreases simultaneously.Moreover,the length of mushy zone decreases greatly dur- ing the dendrite-to-cell transition.Cells obtained at high growth rates have very similar morphologies to those at low growth rates,but with much smaller cell spacings and unsmoothed cell walls which may be attributed to the different stability conditions of the cell walls at low and high growth rates respectively.

Key words: cellular growth, interface morphology, primary spacing, rapid solidification, dendrite-to-cell transition