The Ag-Cu-Ge ternary phase diagram

The Ag-Cu-Ge phase diagram is not very well elaborated. in this work an attempt is made to validate the phase diagram in the area of the ternary eutectic and to decide whether it is a suitable model system for solidification experiments. The different steps in the solidification sequence are separately discussed and analysed. It is shown that an optimization of the system is necessary. The experiments in this work demonstrate that the transition reaction L + zeta-Cu(5)Ge double left right arrow Ag + eta-Cu(3) Ge is located closer to the ternary eutectic than assumed in earlier work. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.