Interaction between solid nickel and a tin–indium eutectic melt, and the nature of eutectic alloys

Structural transformations during reactions between nickel and an indium–tin eutectic melt are studied via the diffraction of high-energy synchrotron radiation. It is shown that InNi intermetallic compound is the first to form after melting. No phases belonging to a Ni–Sn system are observed. A hypothesis concerning the nanocluster structure of the eutectic melt is proposed: Structural formations with forbidden five-fold, seven-fold, and higher-order rotational axes of symmetry lie at the heart of nanosized clusters.