Exploration of Decimeter-Sized High-Purity Magnesium Single Crystal Preparation Based on Melt Controlled-Speed Drop Casting

Magnesium has a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystal structure, thus its mechanical and physical/ chemical properties exhibit significant anisotropy along variant crystallographic orientations. High-purity magnesium single crystal is an ideal material for studying the mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, electrical and thermal conductivity, and other physical/ chemical properties of magnesium along different crystallographic orientations. However, highpurity magnesium single crystals often need to be imported, which are expensive, and the purchase procedures are complicated and time-consuming. Moreover, the size of magnesium single crystal produced by current methods is generally with centimeter or even smaller. The present paper proposes a method for growing high-purity magnesium single crystals based on melt controlled-speed drop casting method. The effects such as raw material purity, crucible configuration, and temperature setting on crystal growth are studied. Using the proposed method, decimeter-sized high-purity magnesium single crystals with a purity of 99. 99wt% are successfully produced.