A Simple Model for Examining Composition Effects in Eutectic Nucleation

Abstract

We present a simple thermodynamic calculation for a strongly partitioning eutectic system, to examine how the critical nucleus energy changes, depending upon assumptions of the chemical diffusion. The calculations show that for strongly partitioning systems, the maximum undercooling may occur at a composition significantly different than the eutectic composition, particularly if the rate of diffusion is slow in the undercooled state. These simple calculations emphasize the role that partitioning and composition may play in determining optimal compositions in metallic glass systems, which typically occur near (but not at) deep eutectic compositions.