Morphology and Growth Kinetic Advantage of Quenched Twinned Dendrites in Al-Zn Alloys

Twinned dendrites appearing in an Al-26 wt pct Zn alloy have been quenched during growth using a specifically designed setup that is positioned on top of a directional solidification experiment. X-ray tomography performed at the Swiss Light Source (SLS-beamline TOMCAT) allowed us to reconstruct the 3D morphology of these structures and to confirm previous observations performed on single 2D sections (Henry et al., Metall Mater Trans A 35A:2495–2501, 2004; Salgado-Ordorica and Rappaz, Acta Mater 56:5708–5718, 2008). Further characterization of these quenched specimens led to a better description of the mechanisms involved in the in-plane and lateral growth propagation of twinned dendrites. These were then put into relation with the competition mechanisms taking place during simultaneous solidification of twinned and regular dendrites.