Formation of bands of ultrafine beryllium particles during rapid solidification of AlBe alloys: Modeling and direct observations

Rapid solidification of dilute hyper-eutectic and monotectic alloys sometimes produces a dispersion of ultrafine randomly-oriented particles that lie in arrays parallel to the advancing solidification front. We characterize this effect in AlBe where Be-rich particles with diameters on the order of 10 nm form in arrays spaced approximately 25 nm apart, and we present a model of macroscopically steady state but microscopically oscillatory motion of the solidification front to explain this unusual microstructure. The proposed mechanism involves; (i) the build-up of rejected solute in a diffusional boundary layer which slows down the growing crystal matrix, (ii) the boundary layer composition entering a metastable liquid miscibility gap, (iii) homogeneous nucleation of solute rich liquid droplets in the boundary layer, and crystallization of these droplets, and (iv) growth of the matrix past the droplets and its reformation into a planar interface. The size of the Be-rich particles is limited by the beryllium supersaturation in the diffusional boundary layer. A numerical model was developed to investigate this solidification mechanism, and the results of the model are in good agreement with experimental observations of rapidly solidified Al-5 at. % Be.