Melting of Bi nanoparticles embedded in a Zn matrix

Abstract

We report the melting behavior of nanometric-Bi particles embedded in the zinc matrix synthesized by the rapid solidification processing. These particles have specific orientation relation with the matrix given by {0001}_Zn ǁ {10-12}_Bi and <11-20>_Zn nearly ǁ <1-210>_Bi. A change in melting behavior is observed on thermal cycling. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results reveal that a fraction of Bi particles melts at 91-95 K below the bulk melting temperature during the second DSC-cycle. It is shown that the division of a single crystalline nano-Bi particle into several grains during solidification results in the significant reduction in melting, which can be explained by the phenomenological theory of melting.