Terminology Used in Phase Diagrams

• Component – It a pure metals and or

compounds of which an alloy is composed.
• System – System refers to a specific body of
material under consideration.
• Alloy – An alloy is a mixture of two or more
metals.
• Solid solution – It is a solid that consists of two
or more elements atomically dispersed in a
single – phase structure.
Continues….
• Solvent – The material which contributes the major
portion of the solution.
• Solute – It is the minor part of the solution of the
material which is dissolved.
• Phase – A phase may be defined as homogeneous
portion of a system that has uniform physical and
chemical characteristics.
• Equilibrium – The term phase equilibrium as it
applies to systems in which more than one phase
may exist.
Continues….
• Solubility limit – It is the maximum
concentration of solute that may be added
without forming a new phase.
• Degrees of freedom – It is the number of
independent variables that can be changed
independently without changing the phase or
phase of the system.
 PHASE
• A phase is defined as any physically distinct,
homogeneous and mechanically separable
portion of a substance.
• A phase requires a unique structure, uniform
composition, and well-defined boundaries or
interfaces.
• A pure substance such as water is a single
phase.
PHASE DIAGRAM OF PURE SUBSTANCE
TRIPLE POINT
 GIBB’S PHASE RULE
The number of phases present in any alloy
depends upon the number of elements of which
the alloy is composed.
– F = C-P+2
• F – Degrees of freedom of system or number of
variables that may be changed independently without
altering the equilibrium
• C – Number of Components forming the system
• P – Number of phases present in the system.
CONSTRUCTION OF PHASE DIAGRAM
INTERPRETATION OF PHASE DIAGRAM

Using phase diagram, the following three

information can get,
– The phases that are present
– The composition of each phase
– The amount of each phase present
PHASE DIAGRAM OF SB - BI
 PHASES
• At point 1 – Only single phase liquid is present
• At point 2 – both liquid and solid phases are
present
• At point 3 – only the solid phase is present
 PHASE COMPOSITION
• If one phase is present in the alloy, the
composition of the phase equals the overall
composition of the alloy.
• For two phase region:
– 14% Bi – 86% Sb – Liquid phase
– 62% Bi – 38% Sb – solid phase
 PHASE AMOUNTS
• For Single Phase
– Phase fraction is 1.0 or the phase % is 100
• For two – phase regions
– Phase fraction = Opposite arm of lever/Total
length of tie line
– Phase % = Opposite arm of lever/Total Length of
tie line x 100
– 66.66 % solid phase and 33.33% liquid phase
TYPES OF EQUILIBRIUM PHASE DIAGRAMS

• Phase diagram for complete solid solubility

• Phase diagram for partial solid solubility
• Phase diagrams containing three – phase
reactions
 ISOMORPHOUS SYSTEM
• In some binary alloy systems, the two elements are
completely soluble in each other in both the liquid
and solid states.
• In these systems only a single type of crystal structure
exists for all compositions of the components and
therefore they are called isomorphous systems
• Ex: Copper – Nickel (Cu-Ni), Antimony – Bismuth(Sb-
Bi), Gold – Silver(Au-Ag) , Chromium – Molybdenum
(Cr-Mo), Tungsten – Molybdenum (W-Mo), Copper –
Gold (Cu-Au).
 PHASE DIAGRAM FOR PARTIAL SOLID
SOLUBILITY
• Examples
– Copper – Silver (Cu-Ag)
– Lead – Tin (Pb-Sn)
– Aluminium – Copper (Al-Cu)

Liquid Eutectic temperature α Solid solution + β Solid Solution

Cooling
 PHASE DIAGRAMS CONTAINING THREE –
PAHSE REACTIONS
• Eutectic Reaction
• Peritectic Reaction
• Eutectoid Reaction
• Peritectoid Reaction

All are invariant reactions

 EUTECTIC REACTION
It can be defined as the transformation,
during cooling, of a liquid phase isothermally
and reversibly into two solid phases.

The eutectic reaction can be written as,

Liquid Solid 1 + Solid 2

EUTECTIC REACTION
 PERITECTIC REACTION
• In peritectic reaction, upon cooling, a solid and
a liquid phase transform isothermally and
reversibly to a solid phase having a different
composition.
• It is a reaction where a solid phase and liquid
phase will together form a second solid phase at
a particular temperature and composition.
• Peritectic reaction can be written as,
Liquid + solid 1 Solid 2
PERITECTIC REACTION
 EUTECTOID REACTION
• A eutectoid reaction is a three-phase reaction
by which, on cooling, a solid transforms into
two other solid phases at the same time.
• The eutectoid reaction can be written as,
Solid 1 Solid 2 + Solid 3
EUTECTOID REACTION
 PERITECTOID REACTION
• Peritectoid reaction is an isothermal reversible
reaction in which two solid phases transform
into a third solid phase, upon cooling.
• The peritectoid reaction can be written as,
Solid 1 + Solid 2 Solid 3
SUMMARY of VARIOUS INVARIANT
REACTIONS