Experiments on Al-25 at%Ni pentectic alloy consisting of melting followed by thermal stabilization ranging from 0 to 2 h were carried out in a Bridgman-type furnace Temperature distribution microstructure evolution and solute concentration in the mushy zone are characterized An analytical model is proposed to evaluate the Ni concentration of the melt after thermal stabilization Effect of temperature gradient and volume fraction of liquid phase in the mushy zone on the Ni concentration of the melt is discussed The steady state Ni concentration of the melt is inappropriately below the initial Ni concentration of the sample The deviation increases with decreasing temperature gradient Finally the influence of thermal stabilization on the solute concentration of the melt is discussed based on a comparison of Al-Ni pentectic alloys with Al-Ni hyper-eutectic alloys and Al-Cu hypo-eutectic alloys (C) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserved