Overview 12: Fundamentals of dendritic solidification—II development of sidebranch structure☆

Abstract Experiments have been carried out to study the development of the dendritic sidebranch structure in succinonitrile. Results obtained provide the first insights into such fundamental problems as the origin of sidebranch perturbations, the mechanism of sidebranch evolution, the influence of anisotropy in solid-liquid interfacial energy, the kinetics of isothermal coarsening, and, finally, the mechanism of dynamic sidebranch coarsening during solidification. All of the problems addressed have applications to the interpretation of microstructures arising from both conventional and rapid solidification processes.