Melting and solidification of bismuth inclusions in aluminium

Supercooling of crystalline bismuth inclusions in aluminium crystals has been observed and studied with different techniques: x-ray diffraction, in situ Rutherford backscattering/channelling spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy. The results of the measurements with different experimental methods (and on different samples) agree remarkably well. The inclusions melt at temperatures at or below the bismuth bulk melting point, and the solid/liquid phase transition exhibits a hysteresis of 100-150 K. Average inclusion sizes ranged from a few nm to some tens of nm. The x-ray diffraction melting data are discussed in relation to different existing models for the melting temperature of an inclusion as a function of its size. From this an approximate size distribution for the inclusions is derived.