Guidelines for binary phase diagram assessment

Abstract

The recent publication of Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams,2nd ed, [90Mas] and our extensive screening of phase diagram graphics for this edition has revealed many phase diagram features, which while not explicitly violating phase diagram rules, are to a lesser or greater extent unlikely to represent thermodynamically acceptable conditions. In two previous papers, several thermodynamically improbable features or boundaries in binary phase diagrams were pointed out [91Oka2], and some unlikely thermodynamic models were shown to be unrealistic, or in error [91Okal]. In the present paper, we discuss some of the unlikely features in more detail in order to develop a set of guidelines that may be useful for checking future proposed phase diagram boundaries, or some specific phase diagram features resulting from both experimental and theoretical work, including also phase diagram assessments.