Physical properties of the liquid Pd–18at.% Si alloy

The temperature dependence of the density, the viscosity, the ultrasound velocity and attenuation and the magnetic susceptibility of the Pd–18at.% Si alloy in liquid state have been measured. A difference during heating and subsequent cooling with a branching temperature at 1380–1430K was observed for all measured quantities. An abnormally high attenuation of ultrasound was furthermore observed during several hours after that the sample was melted. The results are interpreted in terms of metastable inhomogeneities existing in the melt.