Crystal–Melt Interfaces and Solidification Morphologies in Metals and Alloys

When liquids solidify, the interface between a crystal and its melt often forms branching structures (dendrites), just as frost spreads across a window.The development of a quantitative understanding of dendritic evolution continues to present a major theoretical and experimental challenge within the metallurgical community. This article looks at key parameters that describe the interface—excess free energy and mobility—and discusses how these …