XRMON-SOL: Isothermal equiaxed solidification of a grain refined Al–20 wt%Cu alloy

• New isothermal solidification furnace with circular sample and rotational symmetry.
• Low profile compact system enables incorporation into microgravity sounding rocket.
• Control of gradient enables equiaxed solidification in spatially isothermal field.
• Comparison of nucleation, dendrite growth and impingement to theoretical predictions.
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A novel isothermal solidification furnace (XRMON-SOL) has been developed for operation under terrestrial and microgravity conditions, using aluminium-based alloys, in conjunction with real-time in situ X-radiography. The furnace is scheduled to fly on board the MASER 13 Sounding Rocket with a view to investigating isothermal equiaxed solidification under microgravity conditions. The present work provides details of the furnace design as well as detailed analysis of pre-flight terrestrial solidification experiments investigating nucleation and growth characteristics of a thin sample of grain refined Al–20 wt%Cu alloy isothermally solidified at a constant cooling rate of −0.05 K/s. Measurements of nucleation density, nucleation undercooling, grain orientation, grain envelope evolution, primary tip growth velocities, and equiaxed grain interactions are provided. Although the effects of gravity were minimised by choice of sample orientation, we show that such effects can only be eliminated in a microgravity environment.