Effects of gravity on alloy solidification

The impact that gravity can play on the solidification of alloys is an area of academic research hindered by the labour-intensive demands of current analysis approaches. X-Ray videos, showing the dendritic behaviour of an alloy, currently require manual assessment, frame-by-frame and dendrite-by-dendrite. This curtails the capacity to compare observed behaviours between videos, including attempting to understand the role that gravity plays within dendritic solidification behaviour, and thus on the behaviour of the final material sample. This thesis describes the development of an automated analysis system, capable of identifying, isolating and characterising dendrites within in-situ X-Ray videos. This utilises the video results obtained from the MASER-13 sounding rocket launch, including examples of Al-Cu under both terrestrial and microgravity conditions. Along with an illustration of the dendritic behaviours present within both videos, this thesis compares the observable characteristics of both experimental results, showing both the scenario specific conclusions that can be made as well as the opportunities presented to future researchers via automating the present analysis process.