| Dendritic solidification is one of the simplest examples of pattern formation where a structure-less melt evolves into a complex crystalline microstructure. Dendrites are known to occur in the solidification of water, salts, organic materials, and most commonly and importantly, in metals and alloys. As most researchers on dendritic growth invariably note, there is considerable engineering interest in dendrites because of the role dendrites play in the determination of physical properties of cast materials. In addition, dendritic solidification has become a well-studied model in non-equilibrium physics, and computational condensed matter material physics.; The Transient Dendritic Solidification Experiment (TDSE) attempts to study fundamental aspects of time-dependent growth, while retaining the advantages of working with a single, isolated dendrite. The work for this thesis primarily focuses on developing a method to obtain the characteristic size of a dendrite with good accuracy and at a much faster rate than was possible earlier. |
