Phase equilibria and crystal chemistry of silver-nickel-tellurium system

Abstract

Ternary isotherm in the silver-nickel-tellurium system has been investigated using X-ray diffraction and metallographic techniques. At 873 K, only monoclinic Ag₂Te phase with a = 0.815 nm, b = 0.449 nm, c = 0.811 nm, and β = 112°60' is stable in the Ag-Te system. Existence of two phases viz., Ni₃Te₂ and NiTe_1+x has been established. NiTe_1+x phase has a large homogeneity range in the binary and ternary system. solid solubility of nickel in Ag₂Te as well of silver in Ni₃Te₂ is about 5 at.% at the temperature of investigation. The reasons for the large homogeneity range of NiTe_1+x in binary and ternary system has been discussed in detail.