Glossary

Solidification
Part 1
o casting
o (1) Metal object cast to the required shape by pouring or injecting
liquid metal into a mold, as distinct from one shaped by a mechanical
process. (2) Pouring molten metal into a mold to
produce an object of desired shape.

o solidification
The change in state from liquid to solid upon cooling through the melting
temperature or melting range.

o crystallization
o (1) The separation, usually from a liquid phase on cooling, of a solid
crystalline phase. (2) The progressive process in which crystals are first
nucleated (started) and then grown in size within a host medium that
supplies their atoms. The host may be gas, liquid, or of another crystalline
form.

o nucleation
o The initiation of a phase transformation at discrete sites, with the new
phase growing on the nuclei. See also nucleus (2) .

o nucleus
o (1) The heavy central core of an atom, in which most of the mass and
the total positive electric charge are concentrated. (2) The first
structurally stable particle capable of initiating
the growth of a new phase and possessing an interface with the parent
metallic matrix. The term is also applied to a foreign particle that initiates
such action.

o grain
o An individual crystal in a polycrystalline material; it may or may not
contain twinned regions and sub-grains.

o grain boundary
o A narrow zone in a metal or ceramic corresponding to the transition
from one crystallographic orientation to another, thus separating one
grain from another; the atoms in each grain are arranged in an orderly
pattern.

o alloy
o (1) A substance having metallic properties and being composed of two
or more chemical
elements of which at least one is a metal. (2) To make or melt an alloy.