Technical Papers and Discussions - Miscellaneous Alloys - The Constitution of the Lead-antimony and Lead-antimony-silver Systems (Metals Technology, Sept. 1943) (With discussion)

THE present investigation was planned as a survey of the lead-rich portion of the ternary lead-antimony-silver system by thermal analysis. Since, however, a rigorous application of the conventional thermal analytical method is time consuming, an attempt was made to speed up the investigation by reducing the time required for a single thermal analysis. This was done by increasing the rate of cooling to 12° to 18°C. per minute, since such a rate does not permit even an approach to equilibrium conditions, the melt was stirred vigorously by a stirrer operating at the high rate of 665 r.p.m. This proved to be effective in obtaining cooling curves with distinct points of arrest and of excellent reproducibility, which satisfactorily compare with those obtained at a rate of 1" to 2°C. per min. with or without slow stirring (Fig. I). By this method the lead-rich end of the lead-alltimony system and a series of ternary alloys in sections parallel to the lead-antimony side of the ternary system were investigated and it was observed that the two branches of the liquidus curve of the binary alloys did not intersect at the euteotic temperature. An equivalent effect mas observed in the ternary system. The eutectic temperature of the binary lead-antimony system was found to be 252.0°C., which confirms the recent in- vestigation by Pellini and Rhines,1 who determined the eutectic temperature to be 2 51.5°C. The observation that the curves of primarY crystallization of the lead-antimony system do not intersect at the eutectic temperature was previously made by Dean.2 Dean explains the phenomeilon by assuming the existence of a compound Sb4pb. He felt that supercooling was not the cause of the phenomena because he was unable to influence them by inoculation. The X-ray investigation by Solomon and Morris-Jones,3 the metallographic investigations by Stead,4 Charpy,5 Gontermann,6 and Dean, Zickrick and Nix,7 and the numerous investigations of physical properties, definitely disprove the occurrence of any compound. The work of Dean was not confirmed by Broniewski and Sliwoski,8 whose experiments did not show any irregularity and who report a eutectic composition of 13 per cent antimony and a eutectic temperature Of 2500 to 252°C. at a rate Of coo1ing of about 6°C. Per min. Abell Redlich and Adler9 then report a eutectic composition of 12.1 per cent upon reviewing the previous publications and adding a few of their own cooling curves. In 1934 Quadrat and Jiriste10 found from careful analyses of the bottom portion of slowly cooled hypereutectic melts that the eutectic only 11 .4 to 11.5 per cent antimany. (Previous analyses by Stead4 .in 1891 gave 13 per cent.) Weaver,ll however, reported in 1935 that cooling cunres indi-