Flow of interdendritic liquid and permeability in pb-20 Wt Pct Sn alloys

Directionally solidified Pb-20 wt pct Sn alloys of uniform microstructures were produced with various primary and secondary dendrite arm spacings. Permeabilities of these alloys were investigated with approximately 0.19 and 0.29 volume fraction liquid, for flow parallel to the direction of primary dendrite arms. The permeabilities of the samples with approximately 0.19 volume fraction liquid were also obtained for flow normal to the primary dendrite arms. It was found that for flow parallel to the primary dendrite arms, permeability varied with d ₁ ² and g _L ² (d₁ is the primary arm spacing and g_L is the volume fraction of liquid). There appears to be no relation between permeability for this parallel flow and the secondary dendrite arm spacing. For flow perpendicular to the primary dendrite arms, permeability is approximately 0.06 to 0.20 that for parallel flow, and in this case the permeability appears to be strongly dependent upon the secondary dendrite arm spacing.