Undercooling and Solidification of Sn-Pb Alloy Droplets Prepared by Uniform Droplet Spray

The undercooling and solidification of 150 μm and 185 μm droplets of Sn 5%Pb alloy prepared by the uniform droplet spray (UDS) process have been investigated. The enthalpy of the droplet has been measured by non adiabatic calorimetric method as a function of the flight distance. A droplet solidification simulation model has been used to compare with the experimental data. The results show that the enthalpy released by the droplets in the calorimeter is 11.88 J/g and 22.29 J/g less than the simulated values up to a certain flight distance at 0.485 m and 0.460 m for 150 μm and 185 μm droplets respectively, but agrees with the expected values at larger distance. The nucleation of the droplets takes place at the distance where the experimental and simulated enthalpy values agree. The droplets quenched before nucleation solidify into metastable supersaturated solid solution and have large undercooling. The formation of the metastable structure in the droplets has been verified metallographically and by calculations based on a thermodynamic model.