Influence of Minor Cr-Additions to the Growth of Columnar Dendrites in Al-Zn Alloys: Influence of Icosahedral Short Range Order in the Liquid

The effect of minute Cr additions on dendritic growth directions in Al-20 wt pct Zn alloy has been investigated. As first evidenced by Gonzales and Rappaz (Metall Mater Trans A 37:2797–2806, 2006) Al-Zn alloys exhibit a Dendrite Orientation Transition (DOT), from 〈100〉 below 25 wt pct Zn to 〈110〉 above 60 wt pct, regardless of the solidification speed. The DOT has been interpreted as a modification of the solid–liquid interfacial energy anisotropy (Gonzales and Rappaz, 2006; Haxhimali et al. in Nat Mater 5:660–664, 2006). However, 0.02 to 0.1 wt pct addition of Cr in Al-20 wt pct Zn drastically modifies the dendrite trunk direction from 〈100〉 to 〈110〉 at low solidification speed, typically 200 μm/s. Even more surprising, 〈100〉 dendrite trunks are retrieved in Al-20 wt pct Zn-0.1 wt pct Cr when the speed is increased to 1000 μm/s, but with the concurrent formation of twinned dendrites. Minute additions of Cr have been reported recently to promote icosahedral short range order (ISRO) in liquid Al-Zn, thus reducing the atomic mobility (Kurtuldu et al. in Acta Mater 115:423–433, 2016) and modifying the nucleation kinetics (Kurtuldu et al. in Acta Mater 61:7098–7108, 2013). The present results indicate that ISRO also modifies the attachment kinetics of icosahedral clusters rather than individual atoms, and is most likely responsible of growth direction change in Al-Zn-Cr alloy and of twinned dendrites formation.