9409952 Yankova This planning activity includes preliminary experiments and theoretical modeling, which facilitate a development of a subsequent full scale research proposal on interface response in binary alloys. A basic experimental and theoretical research project examines interface response in model cadmium-zinc alloys in order to understand mass transfer and microstructural development during rapid solidification of laser melted pools of binary alloys. The research applies the Aziz-Kaplan interface response functions, combined with a method for determining Vo/Vd (the ratio of the maximum speed of crystal growth at infinite driving force to the maximum speed of inter-diffusion at infinite driving force) to study far from equilibrium materials processing. %%% An understanding of interface response offers the potential not only for producing novel microstructures with enhanced properties in metallic, ceramic and semiconductor systems, but also for fully exploiting rapid spinning and gas atomization techniques for processing of new metal alloys. ***