Foundry engineering has been widely applied in industrial manufacturing for hundred years. Especially for the casting technology, it still leaves a lot to be concerned. To improve the mechanical properties of the metal materials, directional solidification is recommended for controlling the grain morphology and the microstructure. In this study, tin-lead alloy is used as the casting material in directional solidification and sand casting experiments while the alloy concentration and cooling media are set to be the independent variables of different experiment groups. The solidified macrostructure and microstructure including the grain size, equiaxed zones and columnar areas are investigated among the different experimental parameters. Furthermore, the transient temperature field and the growth rates of the grains are also analyzed from the experimental data to discuss their effects on the directional solidification process.