2. Intermetallic formation phenomenology

In this section, we present various cases of intermetallic formation resulting from the interaction of a metallic material with a liquid metal. The focus is on steel/liquid aluminum and liquid gallium. Indeed, aluminum and gallium are the only liquid metals selected in this document to form intermetallics with the constituent elements of steels (Fe, Cr, Ni), as shown in table 3 .

The phenomena observed during interactions between iron and nickel and liquid aluminum are presented first.

Secondly, the phenomena observed in liquid gallium, involving the formation of intermetallics and the dissolution of metals, are summarized.