A transmission electron microscopy investigation of the melting transition

Abstract

Abstract Aluminium single crystals have been melted in situ in a transmission electron microscope (T.E.M.). The diffraction pattern was filmed continuously during the transition at 50 frames per second. The results are consistent with a model in which melting is brought about, initially at least, by spontaneous generation of dislocations of the Shockley partial type near the free surfaces.