Metals
Immiscible metals are unable to form alloys. Typically, a mixture will be possible in the molten state, but upon freezing the metals separate into layers. This property allows solid precipitates to be formed by rapidly freezing a molten mixture of immiscible metals. One example of immiscibility in metals is copper and cobalt, where rapid freezing to form solid precipitates has been used to create granular GMR materials.
There are examples of immiscible metals in the liquid state. One with industrial importance is that liquid zinc and liquid silver are immiscible in liquid lead, while silver is miscible in zinc. This leads to the Parkes process, an example of liquid-liquid extraction, whereby lead containing any amount of silver is melted with zinc. The silver migrates to the zinc, which is skimmed off the top of the two phase liquid, and the zinc is boiled away leaving nearly pure silver.
Read more about this topic: Miscibility
Famous quotes containing the word metals:
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—Herman Melville (1819–1891)