Enhanced Concentric Solidification Technique for High-Temperature Laser-Scanning Confocal Microscopy

We present further developments and enhancements of the concentric solidification technique for high-temperature laser-scanning confocal microscopy. These recent enhancements include an automated in-situ determination of phase fractions during solidification using purposely developed image processing software, more accurate temperature calibration, reproducibility tests as well as close coupling of the experimental results with computational simulations. In the present study, the newly developed capabilities of the concentric solidification technique have been applied to a study of the peritectic phase transition in the Fe-C system.