Directional Growth of Tin Crystals Controlled by Combined Solute Concentration Gradient Field and Static Magnetic Field

A new method was introduced to achieve directional growth of Sn crystals. Microstructures in liquid (Pb)/liquid (Sn) diffusion couples were investigated under various static magnetic fields. Results show that the β-Sn crystals mainly reveal an irregular dendritic morphology without or with a relatively low static magnetic field (≤0.3 T). When the magnetic field is increased to 0.5 T, the β-Sn dendrites close to the final stage of growth begin to show some directional character. With a further increase in the magnetic field to a higher level (0.8-5 T), the β-Sn dendrites have an enhanced directional growth character, but the dendrites show a certain deflection. As the magnetic field is increased to 12 T, the directional growth of the β-Sn dendrites in the center of the couple is severely destroyed. The mechanism of the directional growth of the β-Sn crystals and the deflection of the β-Sn crystals with the application of static magnetic field was tentatively discussed.