Quenching with rapid decompression

摘要

For some of elements, such as silicon and germanium, their melting points drop with the rise of pressure(1, 2). According to the melting curve of germanium, its melting point will drop to 1015K from 1210K when the pressure increases to 5GPa from atmospheric pressure(2). If the germanium melt is abruptly depressurized from initial high pressure of 5GPa(at temperature of 1015K0 to ambient pressure before the solidification of the melt, it will be undercooled below the melting point about 195K and then solidify rapidly. So a rapid drop of pressure applied to a melt whose crystallization point is a decreasing function of the pressure may be equivalent to a rapid thermal quenching.