Correlation between the structural and compositional changes at the solid–liquid interface in submicron Al–Si alloy particles

Diffraction contrast and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to investigate the structure and composition of the solid–liquid interface in Al–11.6 at.% Si alloy particles of 80–400 nm diameter during in-situ heating in the TEM. Comparison between the bright-field and energy-filtered TEM images indicates that the change in structure at the solid–liquid interface as defined by diffraction contrast is accompanied by a corresponding change in composition across the interface as determined from intensity profiles of Al elemental maps and jump-ratio images. Thus, the structural and compositional changes at the solid–liquid alloy interface appear to occur simultaneously over a distance of no more than about 2 nm.