Probing the Miscibility Gap of the Pt–Pd Binary System by Atom Probe Tomography

Abstract

To solve the uncertainty of the platinum (Pt)–palladium (Pd) phase diagram, especially the existence of a suggested miscibility gap, atom probe tomography (APT) was used to determine the time evolution of the composition after heat treatment. Due to the extraordinarily slow diffusion in the temperature range of the controversial phase separation, the investigated volume was limited to nano-sized multiple layers deposited by ion beam sputtering (IBS). The evaporated volume was reconstructed from the obtained datasets and the respective diffusion coefficients were determined using the Fourier series solution of the diffusion equation. Beginning with pure Pt and Pd layers annealed at 673, 773, 873, and 973 K, the mixing appears to be purely diffusion controlled in the chosen annealing times, but the state of complete mixing was still not observed. Therefore, extended isothermal annealing sequences at 673 and 773 K with pre-alloyed layers have been carried out. They clearly suggest complete mixing even at the lowest investigated temperatures.