Mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of the directionally solidified Bi-Zn-Al ternary eute

A Bi-2.0Zn-0.2Al (wt%) ternary eutectic alloy was prepared using a vacuum melting furnace and a casting furnace. The samples were directionally solidified upwards at a constant growth rate (V=18.4μm/s) under different temperature gradients (G=1.15-3.44 K/mm) and at a constant temperature gradient (G=2.66 K/mm) under different growth rates (V=8.3-500μm/s) in a Bridgman-type directional so-lidification furnace. The dependence of microstructure parameter (λ) on the solidification parameters (G and V) and that of the microhardness (Hv) on the microstructure and solidification parameters were investigated. The resistivity (ρ) measurements of the studied alloy were per-formed using the standard four-point-probe method, and the temperature coefficient of resistivity (α) was calculated from theρ-Τcurve. The enthalpy (Δ H) and the specific heat (Cp) values were determined by differential scanning calorimetry analysis. In addition, the thermal con-ductivities of samples, obtained using the Wiedemann-Franz and Smith-Palmer equations, were compared with the experimental results. The results revealed that, the thermal conductivity values obtained using the Wiedemann-Franz and Smith-Palmer equations for the Bi-2.0Zn-0.2Al (wt%) alloy are in the range of 5.2-6.5 W/Km and 15.2-16.4 W/Km, respectively.