EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PLANAR FLOW CASTING PROCESS - DEVELOPMENT AND FREE-SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOLIDIFICATION PUDDLE

Planar flow casting (PFC) is one of the most promising processes for the manufacture of thin metal sheets and high performance rapidly solidified alloys, but very little experimental information is available about this process. We have therefore developed an experimental installation that enables us to study the dynamic behavior of the PFC solidification puddle. We have in particular used high speed video recordings to analyze casting runs conducted for various values of the most important parameters. The size and shape of the puddle have been quantified, and the effect of variations in flow rate, gap, and wheel speed on the puddle shape has been studied. We have also investigated the dynamics of the development of the puddle immediately after melt ejection. Both digitized results and high speed photographic sequences of solidification puddles are shown and discussed in this article.