An in situ system, which is composed of a heating chamber with a specially designed liquid holder, a temperature controller, and an optical microscope, enabled us to observe the successive processes of crystallization at high temperature. It was particularly useful for understanding the TTT relation and the stability of crystals. By means of in situ observation, some metastable phases were shown to nucleate and grow prior to the stable phase. The melting points of these phases were also determined. The liquid holder designed for the in situ method was also effective in ex situ runs with a furnace. The heterogeneous nucleation was suppressed by means of this holder, so that the metastable crystallization, which had been interrupted by the heterogeneous crystallization of stable phase, was found.
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