Factors determining crystal orientation of dendritic growth during solidification

The crystal orientation of dendritic growth has been known to be determined by the direction of the axis of a pyramid composed of four equivalent closest packed planes for fee and bcc, or that of the line bisecting a wedge composed of two equivalent closest packed planes for bet Sn and of two equivalent next most closest packed planes for hcp Zn. However, these cannot explain all the findings. The minimum elastic modulus and maximum heat conductivity directions tend to be the dendritic growth direction.