A NUMERICAL-MODEL FOR EUTECTIC SPACING SELECTION THE CBR4-C2CL6 EUTECTIC SYSTEM

It is well established that the lamellar eutectic structure exhibits a limited range of spacings rather than a unique spacing during steady state growth at a constant growth velocity. The minimum observed spacing corresponds to the extremum spacing predicted by the Jackson and Hunt analysis of eutectic growth. However, the maximum observed spacing is much less than the maximum spacing predicted by their analysis. The assumption of a planar interface by Jackson and Hunt is relaxed in this paper and a numerical model is developed which uses the boundary element method and an iterative technique to obtain the solute distribution for a selfconsistent curved interface shape. The maximum selfconsistent spacing, for which a selfconsistent interface exists, is determined for several growth velocities. The maximum selfconsistent spacings calculated in this way show good agreement with the maximum spacings observed in the CBr4-C2Cl6 eutectic system. The interface shape for the maximum selfconsistent spacings has a limiting slope which is far from vertical and the deepest point on the selfconsistent interface at the maximum spacing does not lie in a deep pocket.