An alloy is a blend of metallic elements prepared by mixing the molten components and
then cooling the mixture to produce a metallic solid. Alloys may be homogeneous solid
solutions, in which the atoms of one metal are distributed randomly among the atoms of
the other, or they may be compounds with a definite composition and internal structure.
Alloys typically form from two electropositive metals, so they are likely to be located towards
the bottom left-hand corner of a Ketelaar triangle (Fig. 3.25).