The aim of our research work is to study the microstructure formation during casting of technical alloys under diffusive and magnetically controlled convective conditions on earth and in space. Unidirectional solidification experiments under steady-state conditions were performed with Al-Si binary alloys containing three different amounts of Si, using electromagnetic stirring of the melt. The influence of the rotating magnetic field on the microstructure evolution (particularly on the secondary dendrite arm spacing) as compared to experiments without stirring was studied.