In article , Tim Williams says...

And so on and so forth; the eutectic layers interact through contact,
diffusion, and mutual solubility on melting to once again form an homogenous
liquid.

This is the realm of solid-solution chemistry. It's really very,
very complicated. There are folks who make entire careers out of
understanding things exactly like this.

The details of how this stuff works is of considerable technological
interest. There are books just full of nothing but phase diagrams
for different alloy compositions.

The original question I think was looking for a very basic
intuitive answer. I didn't reply because I thought he did
not want to hear about phase diagrams, etc.

Also because it was a 'why' question and I'm not very good
at those - better at "how" questions.

Jim


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"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
The original question I think was looking for a very basic
intuitive answer. I didn't reply because I thought he did
not want to hear about phase diagrams, etc.

Also because it was a 'why' question and I'm not very good
at those - better at "how" questions.

Yeah, amazing how such simple questions about things some of us encounter
every day have such complicated and deep answers. Just the kind of thing
Richard Feynman loved, I'm sure.

Tim

P.S. Thanks for the kudos Ed and BS... it's amazing what you can find on the
internet!

--
"California is the breakfast state: fruits, nuts and flakes."
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

Uncle Al wrote:
Hey stooopid, shove it back up yer arse.

Whoa, where did that come from? From the sci.chem,.physics, .etc
groups, I guess. That's where "Uncle Al" posts most often and where
this thread was cross posted. Once again we're reminded of how civil
RCM is compared to the rest of the usenet jungle.

Bob

In article , Tim Williams says...
but what is an eutectic?

Eutectics don't have to have specific phases at the point.

"Eutectic point" is generally defined as "the lowest melting point for
any alloy."

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Tim Williams says...
but what is an eutectic?

Eutectics don't have to have specific phases at the point.

"Eutectic point" is generally defined as "the lowest melting point for
any alloy."

Jim



A eutectic alloy is an alloy of a composition that has the lowest melting
point of related alloys.
This composition is the eutectic composition.
The temperature at which it solidifies is the eutectic temperature.
The combination of composition and temperature is the eutectic point.