Metastable phases in Gallium-Indium eutectic alloy particles and their size dependence

In this paper, submicrometer-sized Ga-In eutectic alloy particles were dispersed into polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix by ultrasonic vibration and sedimentation method. The solidification and melting processes of Ga-In eutectic alloy particles were studied by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Four endothermal peaks with the onset temperature located at 16, −11, −22, and −27 °C were observed in DSC heating curves, which corresponded to the melting process of the stable Ga-In phase α-Ga(In) and three metastable phases of β-Ga(In), δ-Ga(In) and γ-Ga(In), respectively. The stable phase α-Ga(In) can only be formed when the size of alloy particle was larger than 0.58 μm. Conversely, metastable phases β-Ga(In), δ-Ga(In) and γ-Ga(In) are mainly formed. The result shows that phase structures in Ga-In eutectic alloy are size dependent.