“…With increasing withdrawal rate, the degree of microsegregation initially increased and then decreased, which agrees with previous research results based on high temperature gradient (G) directional solidification [30,31]. This evolution was caused by the solute back diffusion during solidification: with increasing withdrawal rate, the degree of microsegregation depends on the competitive relation between the decrease in diffusion distance (about k 1 /2, where k 1 is primary dendritic arm spacing and k 1 / V À0.25 ) and diffusion time (DT/GV, where DT is solidification range) [30][31][32]. The influence of diffusion time was greater at lower withdrawal rate region, while at higher withdrawal rate region, the influence of diffusion distance was more significant.…”