Solid-liquid Interface Energy of Metals at Melting Point and Undercooled State

Abstract

By investigating the effects of the configurational entropy, the vibrational entropy and the bonding strength of solid-liquid atoms on the structure of solid-liquid interface, a model for the interface energy of rough solid-liquid interface has been developed. From present model, the non-dimensional solid-liquid interface energies for metals at melting point are predicted to be 0.66–0.73, which are almost equal to the experimental result (0.66–0.75) obtained from grain boundary method. The solid-liquid interface energy decreases with increasing undercooling. At the maximum undercoolings that metals have reached, the non-dimensional solid-liquid interface energies predicted from present model are equal to 0.52–0.56. They are near to the experimental results (0.49–0.57) obtained from nucleation undercooling method. The predicted results of solid-liquid interface energy for metals from present model are in very good agreement with the experimentally measured results at melting point and undercooled state.