Exotic colony formation in Sn-Te eutectic system

Eutectics are self-organized composite materials that exhibit a wide variety of microstructural features. Besides intrinsic materials properties like interfacial energies or diffusivities as well as the nature of the phase diagrams, the process parameters such as magnitude and orientation of the temperature gradient as well as the velocity of the growth interface influence the evolution of the microstructure. Recently, we have observed the evolution of complex patterns due to addition of ternary impurities in the binary Sn-Te system that contains, in addition to (Te), an intermetallic SnTe phase with a cubic crystal structure. This paper examines in detail the origin of such a microstructure that arises due to a two-phase growth instability induced by impurity addition. The binary eutectics (Sn-Te) and ternary eutectics (Sn-Te with an impurity addition) are directionally solidified at different interfacial velocities in order to study the morphological evolution. The binary alloy exhibits a rod-like or an interconnected string of rods morphology while the addition of a third component leads to a diffusive instability (similar to a Mullins-Sekerka instability) that results in the formation of two-phase colonies. The onset of instability depends on both the growth velocity and impurity concentration while the growth direction of the cells is normal to the {0001} planes of (Te) and {111} planes of SnTe. Through the extensive use of multiple characterization techniques, we have explored the morphological characteristics and crystallography of these colonies. The colonies have a complex internal structure that bears a three-fold symmetry reminiscent of the trigonal symmetry of the (Te) crystal, arising possibly because of strong anisotropy in the solid-liquid interfacial energy or in the kinetics of growth. For the different impurity additions (Ag or Sb), the internal eutectic morphology of the colony, due to the addition of Ag is different from that observed for the addition of Sb. The latter leads to the formation of lamellae while a rod-like feature could be observed for impurities like Ag. The complex patterns exhibit a structural hierarchy that provides opportunities for designing novel materials.