Metallurgy, the study of metals, is an important field of research. This photo illustrates that it can also be a beautiful one. Dendritic morphologies are a common sight in nature, from the fronds of conifers to rock formations such as dendritic quartz. This photo shows the dendritic microstructure of an Al-Si alloy as viewed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The dendrites contain Al and alloying elements in solution, and the areas between dendrites contain intermetallic phases or other impurities.
