Reversibility of Temperature-Induced Liquid Transition in Pb₂₆Sn₄₂Bi₃₂ Melt: Experimental Evidence with Electrical Property

Exploring nature of liquid structures and properties is becoming more interesting in various fundamental and applied fields. With different resorts including the resistivity method, temperature-induced liquid--liquid structure transitions (TI-LLST) have been suggested and verified to occur in some liquid
alloys, while the reversibility of TI-LLST has rarely been examined as yet. Unlike some other investigated liquid alloys, here we show that electrical resistivity of Pb₂₆Sn₄₂Bi₃₂ melt exhibit an anomalous change in the first heating run and a reversible change in the following cooling and heating cycles. Taking account of the structural sensitivity of electrical resistivity, the abnormal patterns suggest two sorts of TI-LLST that are irreversible and
reversible in the liquid ternary alloy, respectively. This interesting phenomenon together with other growing evidence imply that liquid structures and their change characteristics are multiform and complex.