Univariant Eutetic growth in ternary Al-Cu-Ag-alloys

Within the frame of the joint ESA research program “SETA” (Solidification along a Eutectic path in Ternary Alloys) univariant solidification is investigated in preparation of experiments onboard the ISS. The ternary eutectic alloys under examination belong to the ternary system Al-Cu-Ag. The focus is on coupled eutectic growth of two solid phases along the univariant eutectic groove (marked (1) in fig. 1 and 2) that extends from the binary Al-Cu eutectic towards the ternary nonvariant eutectic with increasing Ag content. This presentation reports on three different approaches to the topic: by means of thermodynamics, experiments and microstructure simulations and their interaction. Experiments and simulations are compared regarding planar and cellular microstructure formation and phase compositions. Thermodynamic data and calculations serve as interpretational link between experiment and simulation and as main input to the simulations.