Abstract
A new, less-time-consuming and more precise method is proposed for the first time to determine phase relations involving liquid phases, in which the floating zone technique is used, and hence the method is called the slow cooling float zone (SCFZ) method. In the SCFZ method, the maximum fractional crystallization scheme is maintained throughout the solidified process. From a series of experimental evaluations of this new method in the system MgO-TiO_2, it was demonstrated that: (1) fundamentals of a phase diagram could be obtained with only few experimental procedures, and (2) the capability of providing additional information was shown by revealing the existence of solid solution of MgTiO_3 as extended toward TiO_2 and its exsolution nature which had never been observed, thus establishing a revised phase diagram of the system MgO-TiO_2, The advantages and limitations of this new method for constructing phase diagrams were discussed.
