The Mg–Ca–O system: Thermodynamic analysis of oxide data and melting/solidification of Mg alloys with added CaO

Abstract Some published experimental results on the thermodynamic data of pure solid CaO and MgO significantly contradict the widely used data in review books or tables, such as JANAF data. We scrutinized all the original experimental data forming the basis in review books and tables in order to establish a more realistic uncertainty range. The two Gibbs energy functions of CaO and MgO are combined with those of all other relevant phases to develop a thermodynamic database for the Mg–Ca–O system. The first systematic study of the calculated Mg–Ca–O phase diagram is presented. This phase diagram is validated by recently obtained dedicated experimental data using in-situ synchrotron radiation diffraction to study phase formation and reactions during melting and solidification of Mg and Mg–Ca alloys with CaO-additions below 1 050 K. Intricacies in the solidification path of Mg-rich ternary alloys are revealed by the present thermodynamic calculations. Mg-rich alloys are categorized in four groups according t...