Liquid Alloys

Alloys that contain gallium have the intriguing property of remaining in the liquid state at room temperature and below. While pure gallium melts at 30°C, alloying gallium with indium, tin, and/or zinc lowers the melting point even further.

The chart below shows the melting point behavior of alloys that we offer:

Indalloy^® 51E is a eutectic composition of 66.5Ga/20.5In/13Sn with a melting point of 11°C.

Properties and the Applications of Liquid Alloys

Liquid alloys are used in many evolving applications currently being developed in research and development labs around the world.

Liquid alloys enable these applications, not only because of their ultra-low melting points, but also because of their additional properties. These alloys can wet to surfaces such as glass and polymers. Gallium also forms an amalgam with most common metals; however, it does not dissolve refractory metals, which have very high melting points.

Liquid gallium rapidly forms a skin of oxidized metal on its surface and this effect is being utilized in many liquid metal technologies. Liquid metals can be utilized in printable solutions and can be embedded in elastomers to act as antennas and sensors.

It is also important to note that gallium dissolves aluminum, which precludes its use with heat sinks made from aluminum, for example.