Topological classification of ternary phase diagrams with stoichiometric compounds

Abstract

The topology of a three-component phase diagram can be described by a graph with tervalent nodes that correspond to invariant reactions. The graph edges correspond to monovariant reactions. For a structural description of the diagram, it is sufficient to indexing the graph nodes and edges so that they represent the sequences of invariant phase reactions. Therefore, a topological classification of phase diagrams is reduced to a classification of their graphs. We propose a set of classification features for systems with stoichiometric compounds and without phase transitions. We show a hierarchic relationship between these features and develop principles of a topological classification for the class of diagrams in question.