In binary eutectic alloys one is concerned with a particular phase reaction in which a liquid freezes a t an invariant temperature t o give an intimate mixture of two solid phases a and p. I n different eutectic alloys the distribution of the two phase gives rise to a wide variety of microstructures, and even for a particular alloy the type of microstructure obtained is often a sensitive function of the imposed freezing conditions. With this diversity of microstructures, the classification of eutectic systems into specific categories has always proved to be a problem. JACKSON and HUNT 1966a have shown however t h a t a useful basis for understanding eutectic micromorphologies can be obtained from a consideration of the growth forms commonly adopted by the individual elements when in equilibrium with their own melt. In particular, whether they tend to freeze in a faceting or non-faceting manner, an indication of this being obtained from their entropies of fusion. Thus, eutectic alloys are divided into three categories :1. Non-facetinginon-faceting combinations 2 . Facetinglnon-faceting combinations 3. Facetinglfaceting Combinations .The classification is by no means rigorous, but within certain limitations it is found that most eutectic systems can be assigned to one of the three groups, and within any one group the alloys have certain microstructural characteristics in common. Thus, group 1 (low entropies of fusion -non-faceting combinations)contains all metal-metal eutectics and many metal-intermetallic systems as well as certain organic and inorganic systems: these tend to develop regular microstructures -lamellar, fibrous or structures intermediate between thesewith the phases generally aligned in the growth direction. The two phases freeze side by side, and the factors determining their growth pattern are the direction of heat flow, the interdiffusion of the two components in the liquid phase and to some extent the crystallographic orientation relationships between the phases. Because growth of the two phases is similarly isotropic and non-faceted, these eutectic systems can adopt a closely coupled and co-operative mode of growth a t a stable duplex front -and this is reflected in the regularity of their freezing patterns. Systems in group 2 contain one faceting phase (high entropy of fusion) and examples are mainly metallnon-metal combinations such as Pe(Ni)-C.