Dendritic solidification and thermal expansion of refractory Nb–Zr alloys investigated by electrostatic levitation

The dendritic growth and thermal expansion of isomorphous refractory Nb–5%Zr, Nb–10%Zr, and Nb–15%Zr alloys were studied by electrostatic levitation technique. The obtained maximum undercoolings for the three alloys were 534 (0.2T_L), 498 (0.19T_L), and 483 K (0.18T_L), respectively. Within these undercooling ranges, the dendritic growth velocities of the three alloys all exhibited power laws, and achieved 38.5, 34.0, and 27.1 m s⁻¹ at each maximum undercooling. The microstructures were characterized by coarse dendrites at small undercooling, while they transformed into refined dendrites under large undercooling condition. In addition, the measured thermal expansion coefficients of solid Nb–Zr alloys increased linearly with temperature. The values at liquid state were more than double of those at solid state, which also displayed linear dependence on temperature.