Lead-Tin Cooling Curves

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1. OBJECTIVES The objective of this experiment is to study phase transformations in Lead-tin alloys through the determination of the cooling curves. • To understand how phase transformations occur by studying the cooling curves of lead-tin alloys. • To relate the phase transformation behaviour to the phase diagram. 2. INTRODUCTION A phase diagram in materials science is a type of chart used to show conditions at which thermodynamically distinct phases can occur at equilibrium. Such diagrams are also called equilibrium or constitutional diagrams. It is determined experimentally by recording cooling rates over a range of compositions. We will use these diagrams to understand and predict the alloy microstructure obtained at a given composition. The solidification of most alloys occurs as a continuous process over a range of temperature; even after solidification phase, changes may take place. It is possible by plotting temperature against composition to represent graphically the changes that take place during and after solidification. Such knowledge is a useful guide to the casting and heat treatment of alloys. The diagrams deal with phase transformation in alloys phase under equilibrium conditions realized by extremely slow cooling or heating. This condition is rarely achieved in practice, nevertheless, equilibrium diagrams do show the direction in which changes are likely to occur and serve as a guide to the expected behaviour of a given alloy under practical conditions. The simplest alloy system to consider is that of two metals that are completely soluble in each other in the liquid but have limited solubility in solid state. An example is lead-tin system. The equilibrium diagram for this system is shown in Figure 1. The solidification temperature for pure lead is 327ºC. However, when lead is alloyed with tin, the solidification starts at a

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