An X-ray investigation of slowly cooled copper-nickel-aluminium alloys

Abstract

In a recent letter to Nature (Bradley, Goldschmidt, Lipson and Taylor 1937) it was shown that even a complicated ternary equilibrium diagram might be rapidly and efficiently investigated by means of X-rays. A diagram for the copper-nickel-aluminium system worked out by the authors of the present paper was given as as example. Since then we have completed the investigation, solving some problems which had been left in abeyance. The whole of the ternary system has now been completely explored for slowly cooled alloys. The copper-nickel-aluminium system has previously been inverstigated by a number of workers. Austin and Murphy (1923) determined the liquidus and part of the solidus, exploring the whole system at high temperatures, but without locating the phase fields. Bingham and Haughton diagram. In a careful thermal investigation they found many complicated transformations. Gridnew and Kurdjumow (1936) have investigated the effect of adding nickel to the copper-rich copper-aluminium alloys. Recently Alexander and Hanson (1937) measured the hardness and electrical conductivity of alloys lying on the boundary of the face-centred cubic phase in the neighbourhood of pure copper. From these results they determined the change of solid solubility with temperature.