Abstract
The liquidus projection of the ternary Sn-Ag-Ni system at the Sn-rich side was determined experimentally. No ternary compound was found, and the ζ-Ag 4 Sn, Ag 3 Sn, and Sn existed as the primary solidification phases only in very small compositional portions of the ternary Sn-Ag-Ni system. In more than half of the compositional regime of the ternary system, the Ni 3 Sn 2 phase was the primary solidification phase. The differential thermal analysis technique was used to determine the reaction temperatures and solidification sequences of various Sn-rich Sn-Ag-Ni alloys. Three invariant reactions were found: L = Sn + Ni 3 Sn 4 + Ag 3 Sn, L + ζ-Ag 4 Sn = Ni 3 Sn 4 + Ag 3 Sn and L + Ni 3 Sn 2 = ζ-Ag 4 Sn + Ni 3 Sn 4 . Their reaction temperatures have been determined to be 219, 488, and 516.5 °C, respectively. © 2004 Materials Research Society.