AbstractSpecimens of the Bi–Cd–Pb ternary eutectic were solidified unidirectionally at very low speeds and quenched to form a representative solid/liquid interface for subsequent study. This eutectic was found to be of the Bi(faceted)–Cd(faceted)–Pb2Bi (non1aceted) type. A‘double binary’microstructure was formed on freezing, consisting of binary quasiregular regions composed of Bi and Pb2Bi and binary regions of broken lamellar Cd–Pb2Bi microstructure. Comparison with systems studied previously suggests that a faceted–faceted–non-faceted ternary eutectic of primarily lamellar form will tend to assume a double binary microstructure on freezing, the non-faceted phase will be common to the two binary structures, and each binary structure will take the form corresponding to that expected for a binary eutectic of similar volume fraction of faceting phase.MST/3146