Method and device for producing a monotectic alloy

A method for producing a strand from a monotectic alloy which is formed from a plurality of constituents and in which droplets of a primary phase are uniformly distributed in a crystalline matrix in a solidified state, comprising the following steps:

• a) melting the plurality of constituents, wherein the plurality of constituents include at least one matrix component and a component that forms a primary phase, and wherein melting is performed by heating the plurality of constituents to a temperature at which a single homogeneous phase melt exists;
• b) transferring the melt in a form of a strand at a transfer speed in a transfer unit that slopes with respect to horizontal;
• c) cooling the melt from a lower side of the strand, wherein the lower side of the strand is perpendicular to a transfer direction, wherein cooling is performed during transferring in order to form a horizontal crystallization front during transfer in a cooling zone;
• d) matching a cooling intensity, the slope of the transfer direction and the transfer speed in such a way that the horizontal crystallization front is formed and that a Marangoni force produced by the cooling and formation of the primary phase in the form of droplets is oriented anti-parallel to a gravitational force, with a result that droplets of the primary phase in the matrix component move in the direction of the gravitational force;
• and
• e) withdrawing the monotectic alloy, which has solidified as a strand, from the cooling zone.