Rapid Solidification Processing. Principles and Technologies, II. Proceedings of the International Conference on Rapid Solidification Processing (2nd), March 23-26, 1980, Reston, Virginia U.S.A.,

Abstract : Materials processing plays a central role in the general field of materials science and engineering; indeed, the recent surge of R & D activity in rapid solidification processing (RSP) provides a further example of how the advent of a processing method can catalyze new ideas across the wide spectrum of materials structure, properties, and performance. The major attention in RSP thusfar has been directed toward achieving fast cooling rates from the pre- alloyed liquid state, in the expectation that cost-beneficial properties in final shapes of technological importance can be obtained. Such processes typically involve: (a) the solidification of small droplets, followed by their subsequent consolidation via powder-metallurgy techniques into bulk pieces, or (b) the melt spinning of continuous or discontinuous lengths of thin ribbons, or (c) the in-situ melting and solidification of thin surface layers. Lagging behind, however, is a more basic understanding of the essential phenomena at play in RSP: mechanisms and kinetics of nucleation and growth during rapid solidification; connections between rapid solidification modes and resulting structures; characterization of RSP fine-scale structures; and definitive structure/property relationships to disclose which elements of the RSP structure are actually contributing to the novel properties being observed.