This proposal has two stated objectives. One was to examine the microstructural development during solidification of a ceramic material in which more than one phase adopts a faceted morphology. A four component silicate system of silica-magnesia-alumina-calcia (SMAC) was selected for this study. The second objective was to gain a better understanding of the visual representation of multicomponent system with a previously developed computer aided design (CAD) program. %%%% This proposal studies the microstructural development during directional solidification. The floating zone technique will be employed. A previously developed computer aided design (CAD) program will be modified to handle systems with components greater than 4. This study will bring better understandings of phase equlibria and the morphological development during the solidification.
