The thermal and electrical conductivity of silver-palladium and silver-cadmium alloys at low temperatures

Abstract

Measurements have been made from 2 to 300° K of the thermal and electrical conductivities of a wide range of silver-palladium and silver-cadmium alloys. The thermal conductivity is resolved into its electronic and lattice components. It is shown that in annealed alloys below 10°K the lattice waves are scattered mainly by free electrons, that the conduction electrons interact with waves of all polarizations, and that this scattering is particularly strong for alloys of high palladium content, where one expects holes in the d -band. Above 40 % palladium , s - d scattering increases the electrical resistance and serious departures from Matthiessen’s rule are observed. The lattice conductivity of strained specimens is much lower, and the additional thermal resistance varies as T -2 , as does the resistance due to interactions with conduction electrons. It is suggested that the additional scattering is due to dislocations of large Burgers vector.