Temperature and concentration dependence of the electrical resistivity of liquid indium-tin alloys

In this paper, the electrical resistivity (ρ) of liquid In–Sn alloys has been measured as a function of temperature during cooling and subsequent heating. The electrical resistivity changes linearly with temperature for all the In–Sn melts within the measuring temperature range (from liquidus to 850 °C or 900 °C). In addition, the concentration dependence of electrical resistivity is presented based on the measurement during reheating. The result indicates that the Nordheim rule is applicable to this system, which implies that the structure of the liquid In–Sn alloys is not so far from the substitutional distribution between the In and Sn atoms in the reheating run. The comparison of resistivity between ours and Shen et al 's (2006 Phys. Scr. 73 184) indicates that the pre-transform which takes place around 650 °C is irreversible and this structural pre-transform can only be found during the primary heating after the melting of the initial sample.