PHASE FORMATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF EMBEDDED ALLOY NANOPARTICLES: CASE OF LEAD INDIUM ALLOY PARTICLES IN ALUMINUM

Abstract

The effect of size on the alloying and transformation behavior of multicomponent metallic systems has received very little attention. The present study reports a preliminary result in this direction involving Pb–In nanosized alloy particles embedded in an aluminum matrix. With the help of various techniques including in situ electron microscopy, we show that at small sizes, the Pb–In alloys particles are single-phase solid solution having fcc structure at the composition range covering both Pb and In rich regions. The results of in situ microscopy also indicate that the melting point and roughening behavior of these particles differ from particle to particle. The results are compared with that available for pure Pb particles.