Surface and transport properties of Au–Sn liquid alloys

Abstract

The present work is an experimentally based investigation of the applicability of the complex formation model (CFM) in the framework of statistical mechanical theory in conjunction with quasi-lattice theory (QLT) to describe the surface and transport properties of Au–Sn liquid alloys. Depending on melting temperatures, the surface tension of molten Au and Au–Sn alloys has been measured by the pinned-large drop method in the temperature range of T = 1275–1493 K. The calculations have been done with various objectives in view, i.e., to analyse existing thermodynamic data related to the peculiarities of the Au–Sn phase diagram, to use these data as the input for the interaction parameter calculations, to calculate the surface properties (surface tension and surface composition) and to compare the computed data with a new set of the surface tension experimental data as well as to predict the values of dynamic properties (chemical diffusion and viscosity). Some information on the structure of Au–Sn liquid alloys are given in terms of the microscopic functions (concentration fluctuations in the long-wavelength limit and chemical short-range order parameter).