Contact melting in simple eutectic system

Abstract

The growth of the liquid interlayer in the system lead-tin at 463 K is studied experimentally in the nonstationary diffusion process of contact melting. The contact melting was carried out between pure tin and solid solution of tin in lead (0, 5.9, 11.5, 17.8, 24.8 mol. % Sn). The results indicate that the concentration range of the liquid interlayer corresponds to the interval of homogeneity of the liquid phase in the phase diagram at the experiments temperature. It is shown that the solid solution corresponding to the solidus near the liquid/crystal interface can not be generated by the diffusion of atoms from the liquid into the crystal. An explanation is offered that the solid solution of solidus composition at the liquid/crystal interface occurs as a result of the precipitate from the metastable (supersaturated by lead) melt.