A casting method includes forming a seed. The seed has a first end and a second end. The forming includes bending a seed precursor. The seed second end is placed in contact or spaced facing relation a chill plate. The first end is contacted with molten material. The molten material is cooled and solidifies so that a crystalline structure of the seed propagates into the solidifying material. The forming further includes inserting the bent seed precursor into a sleeve leaving the bent seed precursor protruding from a first end of the sleeve

A casting method includes: forming a seed, the seed having a first end and a second end, the forming including bending a seed precursor; placing the seed second end in contact or spaced facing relation with a chill plate; contacting the first end with molten material; and cooling and solidifying the molten material so that a crystalline structure of the seed propagates into the solidifying material. The forming further included reducing a thickness of the seed proximate the first end relative to a thickness of the seed proximate the second end.

A casting method includes: forming a seed, the seed having a first end and a second end, the forming including bending a seed precursor; placing the seed second end in contact or spaced facing relation with a chill plate; contacting the first end with molten material; and cooling and solidifying the molten material so that a crystalline structure of the seed propagates into the solidifying material. The forming further included reducing a thickness of the seed proximate the first end relative to a thickness of the seed proximate the second end.

A casting method includes forming a seed. The seed has a first end and a second end and an inner diameter (ID) surface and an outer diameter (OD) surface. The seed second end is placed in contact or spaced facing relation with a chill plate. The first end is contacted with molten material. The molten material is cooled and solidified so that a crystalline structure of the seed propagates into the solidifying material. At least a portion of the seed contacted with the molten material has a solidus higher than a solidus of at least an initial pour portion of the molten material.

A casting method includes forming a seed. The seed has a first end and a second end and an inner diameter (ID) surface and an outer diameter (OD) surface. The seed second end is placed in contact or spaced facing relation with a chill plate. The first end is contacted with molten material. The molten material is cooled and solidified so that a crystalline structure of the seed propagates into the solidifying material. At least a portion of the seed contacted with the molten material has a solidus higher than a solidus of at least an initial pour portion of the molten material.

A method for producing a substrate (10) for an optical element (11) includes: introducing a starting material, preferably a metal or a semimetal, into a container and melting the starting material, producing a material body having a quasi-monocrystalline volume region (8) by directionally solidifying the molten starting material proceeding from a plurality of monocrystalline seed plates arranged in the region of a base of the container, and producing the substrate by processing the material body to form an optical surface (12). An associated reflective optical element (11), in particular for reflecting EUV radiation (14) includes: a substrate having an optical surface on which a reflective coating (13) is applied. The substrate is typically produced in accordance with the associated method and has a quasi-monocrystalline volume region (8).

A method for producing a substrate (10) for an optical element (11) includes: introducing a starting material, preferably a metal or a semimetal, into a container and melting the starting material, producing a material body having a quasi-monocrystalline volume region (8) by directionally solidifying the molten starting material proceeding from a plurality of monocrystalline seed plates arranged in the region of a base of the container, and producing the substrate by processing the material body to form an optical surface (12). An associated reflective optical element (11), in particular for reflecting EUV radiation (14) includes: a substrate having an optical surface on which a reflective coating (13) is applied. The substrate is typically produced in accordance with the associated method and has a quasi-monocrystalline volume region (8).

A single-crystal turbine blade and a method of making such single-crystal turbine blade are disclosed. During manufacturing, a secondary crystallographic orientation of the material of the single-crystal turbine blade is controlled based on a parameter of a root fillet between an airfoil of the single-crystal turbine blade and a platform of the single-crystal turbine blade. The parameter can be a location of peak stress in the root fillet expected during use of the turbine blade.

Growth of single crystal epitaxial films of the perovskite crystal structure by liquid- or vapor-phase means can be accomplished by providing single-crystal perovskite substrate materials of improved lattice parameter match in the lattice parameter range of interest. Current substrates do not provide as good a lattice match, have inferior properties, or are of limited size and availability because cost of materials and difficulty of growth. This problem is solved by the single-crystal perovskite solid solutions described herein grown from mixtures with an indifferent melting point that occurs at a congruently melting composition at a temperature minimum in the melting curve in the pseudo-binary molar phase diagram. Accordingly, single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, structures, and devices including single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, and methods of making single-crystal perovskite solid solutions are described herein.

Growth of single crystal epitaxial films of the perovskite crystal structure by liquid- or vapor-phase means can be accomplished by providing single-crystal perovskite substrate materials of improved lattice parameter match in the lattice parameter range of interest. Current substrates do not provide as good a lattice match, have inferior properties, or are of limited size and availability because cost of materials and difficulty of growth. This problem is solved by the single-crystal perovskite solid solutions described herein grown from mixtures with an indifferent melting point that occurs at a congruently melting composition at a temperature minimum in the melting curve in the pseudo-binary molar phase diagram. Accordingly, single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, structures, and devices including single-crystal perovskite solid solutions, and methods of making single-crystal perovskite solid solutions are described herein.