Instability of primary dendrite arms in columnar Chernov crystals

Some features of dendrite coarsening are studied on individual columnar dendrites in a large steel ingot. The coarsening of dendrite arms in Chernov columnar crystals is observed only in the zone of conventional solidification. In the tips of crystals that penetrate into the shrinkage cavity of the ingot, the initial sizes of the dendrite arms do not change. The coarsening of the primary arms is shown to cause crystal fragmentation into individual dendrites.