Phase diagrams are the primary visualizing tools in materials science because they

allow one to predict and interpret changes of a composition of a material from phase
to phase. As a result, phase diagrams have been proven to provide an immense
understanding of how a material forms microstructures within itself , thus leading to
an understanding of its chemical and physical properties. However, there are instances
when materials fail to perform to their proposed potential. One can deduce, referring
to its phase diagram, what may have happened to the material when it was made, to
cause failure. In these instances, one can use thermodynamic relations to go into the
phase diagrams and extrapolate data which would not have been available to measure
before. Thus, this thermodynamic erudition can lay a foundation to ascertaining the
kinetics of processes that take place during phase diagram construction.

Free Energy and Composition

To lay this foundation, the tool that will prove to be most useful is the concept
of equilibrium. Equilibrium is best described in terms of free energy. Free energy is
a measure of a systems internal energy which gives an indication of the randomness
or entropy of the system. The best way to use free energy to describe a phase diagram
is to use a graph of free energy versus the composition (a G-X diagram) of a system.
For any given phase a G-X plot can be made holding temperature and pressure
constant. Figure 1 illustrates such a plot for an ideal solution at many temperatures.