Fundamentals of Materials:

Binary Phase Diagrams

Isomorphic
Nils Warnken
Room 1D28
n.warnken@bham.ac.uk
Towards Phase diagrams of AB - alloys

Unary Phase Diagram

T (Temperature)

T (Temperature)
Critical Point

gas
liquid liquid

solid
solid
An restrict the temperature
range to solid and liquid
phases only.
P (Pressure)
We fix pressure to atmospheric pressure

2
 T (Temperature)
liquid

solid
Mark the melting points of pure A and pure B

Extend diagram,
add composition as x-axis to
take binary alloy into account

Composition axis from 0%B to 100%B

Or, from 0.0 B to 1.0 B 3
 In the present case:

• A and B have very different melting

points Tm

• What can we expect to see in-

? between pure A and pure B?

• We assume complete solubility of B in
A, i.e. at some temperature(s) solid
(and liquid) can exist at any
composition of B.
• We assume complete solubility of B in
A, i.e. at some temperature(s) solid
(and liquid) can exist at any
composition of B.

4
 Gibb’s Phase Rule
For constant pressure
P : Phases Present
F = C -P +2 F : Degrees of Freedom
C: Components in the system

Describes the degrees of freedom in a heterogeneous system,

for a given number of component and phases presents.

The ‘2’ represent additional conditions, such as temperature and pressure.

A little help to remember Gibbs phase rule:

Police + Force = Cops +2

P + F = C +2
5
 Using Gibbs phase rule
T (Temperature)
liquid
C=2, P=2, pres. = const

F = C – P + 1 = 2 -2 + 1
l+s
solid Hence: 1 degree of freedom while
solid and liquid are both stable (in
equilibrium).

0
at% or wt% B
T (Temperature)
liquid Adding a second element widens the
melting point to a temperature interval.

This interval is limited to the liquid single

phase region by the liquidus temperature
solid
This interval is limited to the solid single
phase region by the solidus temperature

at% or wt% B
 In the present case:

• A and B have very different melting

liquid points Tm

• What can we expect to see in-

between pure A and pure B?
• We assume complete solubility of B in
A, i.e. at some temperature(s) solid
(and liquid) can exist at any
composition of B.
solid
• We assume complete solubility of B in
A, i.e. at some temperature(s) solid
(and liquid) can exist at any
composition of B.

What is a melting point in the pure component, becomes a temperature range!

8
Upon adding a second
element,
the melting point splits
up to form a melting
temperature interval!
Liquid
The upper limit is called
Liquidus Temperature

the lower limit

Solidus Temperature
Liquid + Solid
Alloys do not have a
melting temperature,
but a melting or freezing
range.
Solid
We introduce a new
variable:
Chemical Composition
c2
9
 Isomorphic phase diagram

This is the phase

Liquid
diagram, of binary alloys
(or binary mixture),
with complete solubility
of both component.

This means,
both component Liquid + Solid
completely mix in the
liquid and solid phases.

Solid

10
Lets analyse this diagram,
we see…

X-axis: Composition,
typically in at% or wt%
Liquid
T-axis: Temperature,
typically in °C or Kelvin TM,A

Melting temperatures
TM,A and TM,B of the two Liquidus Line
pure components. Liquid + Solid

Areas enclosed by lines,

called liquidus line and
solidus line. Solid TM,B
Solidus Line
Areas are called
‘phase-regions’
and are either single or
two phase regions.
11
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_giraffe_is_the_only_animal_born_with_horns_(15080255893).jpg

Time for a short break…

12