The stability of a planar interface during the melting of a binary alloy

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper considers the stability of a planar solid/liquid interface during the melting of a binary alloy. The method used is similar to that originally applied by Mullins and Sekerka to the case of solidification of such an alloy; a similar approximation of using steady-state diffusion equations for small perturbations is applied. The effects of diffusion of the solute in the solid, which were ignored by Mullins and Sekerka, but which are expected to be of greater importance in melting, are included in this analysis. It is shown that the onset of constitutional superheating is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for the onset of instability in the interface; indeed, the extent of instability is much more restricted than that of constitutional superheating. The criteria for instability derived are also discussed in relation to the experimental work of Woodruff and Forty on the melting and constitutional superheating of sodium–potassium alloys.