Liquidus projection of the ternary Ag-Sn-Ni system

The liquidus projection of the ternary Sn-Ag-Ni system at the Sn-rich side was determined experimentally. No ternary compound was found, and the ζ-Ag4Sn, Ag3Sn, and Sn existed as the primary solidification phases only in very small compositional portions of the ternary Sn-Ag-Ni system. In more than half of the compositional regime of the ternary system, the Ni3Sn2 phase was the primary solidification phase. The differential thermal analysis technique was used to determine the reaction temperatures and solidification sequences of various Sn-rich Sn-Ag-Ni alloys. Three invariant reactions were found: L = Sn + Ni3Sn4 + Ag3Sn, L + ζ-Ag4Sn = Ni3Sn4 + Ag3Sn and L + Ni3Sn2 = ζ-Ag4Sn + Ni3Sn4. Their reaction temperatures have been determined to be 219, 488, and 516.5 °C, respectively. © 2004 Materials Research Society.