Spinodal pre-unmixing and graphitoid flickering in liquid cast iron

The structure of liquid cast iron was considered in the context of phenomenological thermodynamics of real solutions. It was shown that, during heterogenization of solutions, the ascending diffusion of the components occurs. In this case, the migration of the components occurs in the direction opposite to the concentration gradients but along the chemical potential (activity) gradients. At the initial stage of spinodal unmixing of a solution, it experiences heterogenization rather than homogenization with respect to chemical potentials (or activities). In this case, the second law of thermodynamics is not violated.