Melting and solidification of Sn-clusters

Sn-clusters, or the aggregates of weakly bonded Sn-particles, prepared by the evaporation in an inert gas atmosphere, were analyzed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Melting and solidification of aggregates take place over a temperature range, which is especially broad in the case of solidification. Both thermal events are influenced by the size distribution of particles in the aggregate. The determined quantities, the latent heat of melting and solidification, respectively, are smaller than the values for a bulk sample. It seems that the latent heats vary inversely with the particle size.