External Seeding of a Metastable Metallic Phase

Abstract

The controlled solidification of a metal from an undercooled melt into a predetermined metastable product phase has been demonstrated for the iron-nickel alloy system. This was achieved by introducing an external nucleation seed of suitable catalytic potency. The metastable b.c.c. phase was identified through its melting point well below the equilibrium f.c.c. value, in agreement with a calculated metastable phase diagram.