Caiden J Parker, Karma Zuraiqi, Vaishnavi Krishnamurthi, Edwin Lh Mayes, Pierre H A Vaillant, Syeda Saba Fatima, Karolina Matuszek, Jianbo Tang, Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh, Nastaran Meftahi, Chris F McConville, Aaron Elbourne, Salvy P Russo, Andrew J Christofferson, Ken Chiang, Torben Daeneke
Crystallization of alloys from a molten state is a fundamental process underpinning metallurgy. Here the direct imaging of an intermetallic precipitation reaction at equilibrium in a liquid-metal environment is demonstrated. It is shown that the outer layers of a solidified intermetallic are surprisingly unstable to the depths of several nanometers, fluctuating between a crystalline and a liquid state. This effect, referred to herein as crystal interface liquefaction, is observed at remarkably low temperatures and results in highly unstable crystal interfaces at temperatures exceeding 200 K below the bulk melting point of the solid...
May 5, 2024: Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)