MME 298

Structure and Properties

of Biomaterials Sessional
1.50 Credits 3 Hours/Week

Course Tutor
A K M Bazlur Rashid
Professor, Department of MME
 MME298, Presentation Lab #2

Introduction to Phase Diagrams

1. Labelling and construction of phase diagram
 What are Phase Diagrams?

❑ A phase diagram of a material system is a map which indicates

the phases present at a given equilibrium condition.

❑ Reading this map will tell you that, in a particular condition

(T, P, X), when the system comes to equilibrium,
1. what phases are present,
2. the state of those phases, and
3. the relative quantities of each phase.

❑ Reading a phase diagram will also tell what phase transformations

we can expect when we change one or more parameters of the
system (T, P, X).
 Definitions and Basic Concepts

❑ Components are chemically recognisable species that

are mixed to form the alloy.
• In Brass: Cu, Zn (element)
• In steels: Fe, C (element)
• In ceramics: SiO2, Al2O3 (compound)
❑ Binary alloy contains 2 components, ternary 3, etc.

❑ A phase may be defined as a homogeneous portion of a

system that has uniform physical and chemical characteristics.
• Example: solid, liquid, gas, sugar-water liquid solution
❑ A system is at equilibrium if its free energy is at the minimum
under some specified combination of temperature, pressure, and
composition.
• An equilibrium system do not change with time, but persist indefinitely
— that is, the system is stable.

❑ In solid systems, a state of equilibrium may never completely

achieved because of slow transformation rate. Such a system is
said to be in a metastable state.
• A metastable state or microstructure may persist indefinitely.
• Often, metastable structures are of more practical significance than
equilibrium ones.
 The properties of an alloy Microstructure of Al-Cu Alloy b phase
depend not only on proportions (lighter)
of the phases but also on how
they are arranged structurally at a phase
(darker)
the microscopic level.

 Thus, the microstructure is

specified by the number of
phases, their proportions, and Microstructure of Cast Iron pearlite
their arrangement in space. (finger
print)
 Phase diagrams will help us to
understand and predict the
graphite
microstructures like the one (grey)
shown in this page
 Types of Phase Diagrams

Unary System
Pressure - Temperature (P-T) Diagram

Phase diagram for H2O

 Binary System
Temperature - Composition (T-X) Diagram

Type I Diagram Type II Diagram

Cu Ni A B

Completely soluble Completely insoluble

Copper – Nickel phase diagram Hypothetical A – B phase diagram
 Type III Diagram

Pb Sn

Partially soluble
Lead – Tin phase diagram
 Phase Diagram Nomenclatures

Liquidus
Start of solidification or,
end of liquification
Liquid

Liquid Solidus
Freezing +
End of solidification or,
range Solid
start of liquification


Not to be confused with Solvus,

Solid which indicates the limit of solid

solubility in a solid solution
X % Y added Y
Composition of alloy

Phase diagram with complete solubility of ❑ Relative amounts of X and Y

one component into another ❑ The scale can be in weight %, atomic
(Type 1 Phase Diagram) % or mole %
Chemical composition of Phases
❑ Chemical composition of each phase in the system
(indicating how much X and Y in the phase).
❑ For systems having more than one phase, each phase will have a unique
chemical composition which will be different from each other,
and will also be different from the overall composition.
❑ Not to be confused with overall composition of the alloy.

Relative amounts of Phases

❑ For system having more than one phase, relative amount is
the amount of each phase relative to overall amount of the alloy
(indicating kg of each phase in overall weight of the alloy).
❑ Depends on temperature and composition of the alloy.
❑ Not to be confused with composition of phases.
 The Cooling Curve

❑ Cooling curve indicates the gradual change in temperature with

time during cooling of alloy

Alloy 1
Alloy 1 ARREST
Liquid POINTS

Temperature
L
start of solidification
Freezing L+ S
Liquid + Solid
range
TX end of solidification
TX S Solid
Pure metal X

X Y Time
%Y
 ❑ Depending on the alloy system, four different types of cooling curves
are observed:

L
Temperature

Temperature
L
S+L

S S

Time Time
pure metals and eutectics solid solutions having L
having a definite melting point a range of melting point
Temperature

Temperature
a+L
S+L a

S a+b

Time Time
alloys having a range of solid solutions having a
melting point and complete range of melting point and
solidification isothermally limited solid solubility

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 Construction of Phase Diagrams

1. Experimental determination
(a) Thermal analysis
(b) Metallographic method
(c) X-ray diffraction

2. Theoretical determination
by using thermodynamic software e.g., THERMO CAL
 Thermal analysis method

❑ Generation of cooling curves (temperature vs. time diagram)

for a number of alloys of the alloy system to obtain
arrest points (temperatures where a change in slope is observed).

common thermocouples
❑ Common temperature T, °C T, °C
Type Material
measuring instruments: (min) (max)
1. Thermometer J Iron – Constantan (Cu-Ni alloy) 0 750
2. Thermocouple T Copper – Constantan (Cu-Ni alloy) -250 350
3. Optical pyrometer K Chromel (Ni-Cr) – Alumel (Ni-Al) -200 1250
E Chromel (Ni-Cr) – Constantan (Cu-Ni) -200 900
S Platinum – Pt-13% Rhodium alloy -50 1768
hot
V junction B Pt-30% Rhodium – Pt-6% Rhodium 0 1820
cold C Pt-5% Rhenium – Tungsten-26% Rhodium 0 2320
junctions
working principles of thermocouple
 Example

1200
LIQUID SOLUTION, L
1000
Temperature, C

800 L+a

600

400 SOLID SOLUTION, a

200

0 20 40 60 80 100
A Wt. % B B

completely soluble phase diagram of A-B alloy system

 100% A 75% A 50% A 25% A 0% A
0% B 25% B 50% B 75% B 100% B

1200

L Pure B
1000 

Temperature, C

Temperature, C
800
L+a  

600 


400 
a

200 25 B
Pure A 50 B
75 B
0 20 40 60 80 100 Time
A Wt. % B B
The Cooling Curves
 Labelling of Phase Diagrams

1. Labelling points (melting points, eutectic points)

2. Labelling lines (liquidus line, solidus line, solvus line)

3. Labelling areas (different phase areas)

 Example 1: Completely soluble diagram

Leveling Points
TA : Melting point of
a TB
Temperature

pure metal A

TB : Melting point of
pure metal B

Leveling Lines
TA b
TA a TB : Liquidus line
TA b TB : Solidus line

Liquidus and solidus lines

A Wt.% B B always start from the
melting point of one metal
and finish at the melting
point of the other metal
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 Leveling Areas
L : where liquid phase
is stable
TB
L a
Temperature

a : where solid solution

a phase is stable
L + a : where both liquid
L + a and a phase are stable

TA b Labeling two-phase area

If you are not sure about
a labeling a two phase zone,
draw a horizontal line along
the area.
Those single phases whose
A Wt.% B B boundaries are cut by the line
will be present inside the two-
phase area.
 Example 2
Labeling phase diagrams
Before labeling a phase
diagram, it is always helpful
TA to identify the type or nature
L of the diagram.
TB
Temperature

TA : Melting point of A
L + A L + B TB : Melting point of B
a E b TE : Eutectic point

A + B
TA E TB : Liquidus line
TA a E b TB : Solidus line
A Wt.% B B

Eutectic type, completely insoluble diagram

(Type II)
 Example 3

TA : Melting point of A
TA TB : Melting point of B
TE : Eutectic point
TB
L
Temperature

L+a TA E TB : Liquidus line

L+b
a a b TA a E b TB : Solidus line
E b

a + b
TA a c : Solvus line
c d TB b d : Solvus line
A Wt.% B B

Eutectic type, Partially soluble diagram

Type III
 Example 4

TA TA : Melting point of A
L TB : Melting point of B
TB
TE : Eutectic point
Temperature

L+A

a b TA E TB : Liquidus line
AB + L L+B
TA a b c d TB : Solidus line
A + AB c E d
AB + B

A AB B
Wt.% B

Eutectic type diagram with Intermediate Compound

Any Question?
 Problem #1a
Label the diagram completely

A wt.% B B
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 Problem #1b
Label the diagram completely

L1

T d L2

A wt.% B B
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 Problem #1c
Label the diagram completely

A wt.% B B
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 Problem #2
The melting points of metal A and metal B are 1000 °C and 750 °C respectively.
A number of alloys are prepared by mixing different proportions of A and B, and
the arrest points of cooling curve of each alloy are given in the following table.

B in A, wt.% 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
First arrest point, °C 985 960 915 865 800 715 620 690 715 735
Second arrest point, °C 850 735 620 620 620 620 - 620 635 690
Third arrest point, °C 250 450 - - - - - - 570 300

Construct the phase diagram for metal A and metal B in a piece of graph paper
and label all lines, points and areas of the diagram.
Identify the nature of this hypothetical phase diagram.

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