Solid-Liquid Interface Characterization Hardware: Advanced Technology Development (ATD)

This ATD has the goal of enabling the integration of three separate measurement techniques to characterize the solid-liquid interface of directionally solidified materials in real-time. Arrays of film-based metal thermocouple elements are under development along with compact Seebeck furnaces suitable for interfacing with separately developed X-ray Transmission Microscopes. Results of applying film arrays to furnace profiling are shown, demonstrating their ability to identify a previously undetected hardware flaw in the development of a second-generation compact furnace. Results of real-time furnace profiling also confirmed that the compact furnace design effectively isolates the temperature profiles in two halves of the furnace, a necessary feature. This isolation had only been inferred previously from the characteristics of Seebeck data reported. Results from a 24-thermocouple array successfully monitoring heating and isothermal cooling of a tin sample are shown. The importance of non-intrusion by the arrays, as well as furnace design, on the profiling of temperature gradients is illustrated with example measurements. Further developments underway for effectively combining all three measurements are assessed in terms of improved x-ray transmission, increased magnification, integral arrays with minimum intrusion, integral scales for velocity measurements and other features being incorporated into the third generation Seebeck furnace under construction.