Early stages of soldering reactions

An experiment on the early stages of intermetallic compound layer growth during soldering and its theoretical analysis were conducted with the intent to study the controlling factors of the process. An experimental technique based on fast dipping and pulling of a copper coupon in liquid solder followed by optical microscopy allowed the authors to study the temporal behavior of the sample on a single micrograph. The technique should be of value for different areas of metallurgy because many experiments on crystallization may be described as the growth of a layer of intermediate phase. Comparison of the experimental results with the theoretical calculations allowed one to identify the kinetics of dissolution as the rate-controlling mechanism on the early stages and measure the kinetic coefficient of dissolution. A popular model of intermetallic compound layer structure coarsening is discussed

Solidification fronts in supercooled liquids: how rapid fronts can lead to disordered glassy solids

We determine the speed of a crystallisation (or more generally, a solidification) front as it advances into the uniform liquid phase after the system has been quenched into the crystalline region of the phase diagram. We calculate the front speed by assuming a dynamical density functional theory model for the system and applying a marginal stability criterion. Our results also apply to phase field crystal (PFC) models of solidification. As the solidification front advances into the unstable liquid phase, the density profile behind the advancing front develops density modulations and the wavelength of these modulations is a dynamically chosen quantity. For shallow quenches, the selected wavelength is precisely that of the crystalline phase and so well-ordered crystalline states are formed. However, when the system is deeply quenched, we find that this wavelength can be quite different from that of the crystal, so that the solidification front naturally generates disorder in the system. Significant rearrangement and ageing must subsequently occur for the system to form the regular well-ordered crystal that corresponds to the free energy minimum. Additional disorder is introduced whenever a front develops from random initial conditions. We illustrate these findings with results obtained from the PFC.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Effect of Boron on Carbide Coarsening at 873 K (600°C) in 9 to 12 pct Chromium Steels

The addition of small amounts of boron to 9 to 12 pct chromium steels has been found to decrease their creep rate at 823 K to 923 K (550 °C to 650 °C). In this article, the behavior of boron during austenitizing, tempering, and isothermal heat treatment at 873 K (600 °C) is studied using high-resolution microscopy and microanalysis as well as using atomistic modeling. It was found that increasing the boron content from 9 to 40 ppm decreased the coarsening constant of M23C6 by a factor of almost 2. Most of the added boron was incorporated in M23C6. Atomistic modeling showed that boron diffusion in ferrite is dominated by an interstitial mechanism at 873 K (600 °C). However, the generation of vacancies when carbide precipitates dissolve may promote a distribution with substitutional boron atoms. The absence of a fast mechanism for the transition from substitutional to interstitial occupancy will make the slow substitutional boron diffusion in the matrix rate controlling for the coarsening process