Microstructure Formation during Unidirectionally Solidified Pb-Bi-Sn Tenary Quasi-Peritectic Alloy
In order to investigate the microstructure formation resulted from quasi-peritectic reaction in Pb-Bi-Sn ternary alloy, specimens were directionally solidified with a constant temperature gradient (G=18 K/mm) and the growth velocities ranging from 0.5 μm/s to 10 μm/s. Experimental results indicated that a microstructure, which is composed of the residual primary α phase (Pb-rich solid solution), peritectic β-(Pb7Bi3) phase and Sn-rich solid solution phase was observed. Transition from primary α-cell to primary α-dendrite took place with the increasing growth velocity. The rod-like eutectic was observed in the inter-cellular region under low growth velocity. Detail analyses were adopted to identify the phases and determine the phase compositions, respectively.