Effect of melt convection on microstructure evolution of Nd-Fe-B alloys using a forced crucible rotation technique

The forced crucible rotation technique has been applied to the solidification of Nd-Fe-B alloys. Specially sealed samples were subjected to well-defined forced rotation during induction heating and solidification. The resulting microstructure of the Nd-Fe-B alloys in consideration of melt convection has been investigated using scanning electron probe microscopy. The determination of the a-Fe volume fraction by measuring the magnetic moment in a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) resulted in a distinct reduction of the a-Fe volume fraction in samples with high crucible rotation frequencies. Furthermore, the investigation has been extended the peritectic Ti-Al system. It could be shown that the secondary dendritic arm spacing of the properitectic phase reduces with increasing forced sample rotation frequency.