Thermodynamic assessment of metastable phase diagrams [Ottimizzazione termodinamica di diagrammi di fase metastabili]

The concepts involved in metastability were conveniently approached by trying to understand both the phase diagram aspects and the underlying thermodynamics at the same time. A brief discussion of the fundamentals of this approach, different models involved and possible applications in the description of amorphous phases and crystallization process was reported. The metastable Fe-B phase diagram was assessed including the metastable Fe 3B intermetallic compound and the amorphous phase.