Tamás Pusztai1, László Rátkai1, Attila Szállás1, László Gránásy1,2
1Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, P.O. Box 49, Budapest H-1525, Hungary
2BCAST, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, United Kingdom
Eutectic dendrites forming in a model ternary system have been studied using the phase-field theory. The eutectic and one-phase dendrites have similar forms, and the tip radius scales with the interface free energy as for one-phase dendrites. The steady-state eutectic patterns, appearing on these two-phase dendrites, include concentric rings and single- to multiarm spirals from which the fluctuations choose; a stochastic phenomenon characterized by a peaked probability distribution. The number of spiral arms correlates with the tip radius and the kinetic anisotropy.
