SOLUTE PAIRING IN SOLUTION-HARDENED CU-NI, CU-PD BINARY, AND CU-NI-PD TERNARY FCC ALLOYS

The pairing of solute atoms in solution-hardened binary and ternary face-centered cubic (fcc) binary and ternary Cu alloys has been investigated with the EXAFS (extended x-ray-absorption fine structure) technique using synchrotron radiation. Two binary Cu alloys, one containing 6 at. % Ni and the other 6 at. % Pd and a ternary Cu alloy containing 3 at. % Ni and 3 at. % Pd alloy were studied. The solute concentration in each system was chosen below that (8.33 at. %) required for finding one solute-solute pair in the first coordination sphere in the fcc structure. Detailed simulations of the experimental EXAFS signal arising from the first coordination shell of the Ni and Pd solute atoms in these alloys give the following results: (i) In both binary and ternary alloys, Ni is coordinated by 12 Cu host atoms at a distance equal to sum of the Goldschmidt radii. There is little evidence for Ni-Ni pairing. (ii) On the other hand, Pd-Pd pairing is found in both the binary and ternary systems. In addition, chemical interaction with the Cu matrix is evident from the Pd-Cu separation of 2.60 angstrom which is approximately 0.05 angstrom shorter than the sum of their Goldschmidt radii. (iii) Finally, there is no pairing of Ni-Pd solute atoms in the ternary alloy.