Silver ternary alloys

Ziebold T.O. and Ogilvie R.E. (1967) Ternary diffusion in copper-silver-gold alloys. Trans. Met. Soc. AIME 239, 942-953. 

Numerous other nickel alloys are now marketed, including many grades of nickel-silver, which are essentially ternary alloys of copper, nickel, and zinc. 

The lead-free solder alloys attracting the greatest attention are the tin-rich alloys based on the tin-silver (Sn-Ag) and tin-copper (Sn-Cu) systems and their ternary alloys, Sn-Ag-Cu [3-5]. Numerous studies have been reported on Sn-Ag-Cu near-ternary alloys investigating processing and mechanical property behavior, and also their solidification characteristics [6-9]. 

The creep and thermal fatigue resistance of eutectic Sn-Ag alloy can be significantly enhanced without raising the melt temperature through ternary alloy additions. This is best achieved by introducing an element that is not soluble in solid tin, but soluble in silver. The purpose of this type of alloying addition is to assist in seeding a fine, uniform dispersion of precipitates. This condition in combination with the respective solubility of Sn and Ag in each other preserves the microstructural stability of the alloy. Zinc is a reasonable addition to achieve these objectives, because the solubility of Zn in solid Sn is minimal, and substantial in solid Ag [16]. 

Figure 3. Ternary composition diagram for Cu-Ag-Cd in modern soldering alloys. Analytical results indicate that when the cadmium amount varies, the ratio of copper on silver remains constant.

Compared to the binary silver chalcogenide compounds, the phase transition temperature of monodisperse alloyed ternary silver chalcogenide Ag4SeS... 

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