Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497

www.elsevier.com/locate/intermet

The AlNiSi phase diagramPart III: Phase equilibria

in the nickel rich part
Karthik Chandrasekaran, Klaus W. Richter *, Herbert Ipser
Institut fur Anorganische Chemie-Materialchemie, Universitat Wien, Wahringerstrae 42, A-1090 Wien, Austria
Received 30 June 2005; received in revised form 29 August 2005; accepted 29 August 2005
Available online 10 October 2005

Abstract

The ternary AlNiSi phase diagram between 66.7 and 100 at.% Ni was investigated by a combination of differential thermal analysis (DTA),
powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), metallography and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The ternary phase equilibria were analyzed within the
isothermal section at 1000 8C, and DTA was used to determine the various invariant reactions within the three sections at 70, 75 and 80 at.% Ni. A
liquidus surface projection was constructed for the entire composition range by combining our experimental data with those from literature.
Powder XRD was used to determine the lattice parameters and their variation as a function of composition for the solid solutions. Based on our
analysis, we report the existence of two major solid solution phases, namely, (a) the solid solution of Al and Si in Ni and (b) the complete solid
solution between the isostructural binary compounds AlNi3 (g 0 ) and Ni3Si (b1).
q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: A. Aluminides, miscellaneous; B. Phase diagrams; B. Thermal properties

1. Introduction diagrams [3] although there are many more recent studies,
especially for the Ni-rich part of the AlNi binary system.
The development of high temperature structural materials Thermodynamic optimizations of the AlNi system were
with enhanced mechanical properties is an important issue in performed by Ansara et al. [4] and by Huang and Chang [5].
modern technology. Extensive research is being done in A somewhat revised version of the calculated AlNi
various laboratories to identify and to improve such materials, system was given by Ardell [6], especially with respect to
and Ni-based intermetallics are one of the promising groups of the AlNi3Ni region. The phase boundaries between (Ni) and
compounds. In this context, AlNi based ternary alloy systems, AlNi3 were re-investigated by Cserhati et al. [7] using diffusion
like AlNiSi, have drawn a lot of interest which has to do with couple experiments. The binary AlNi phase boundaries used
some of the properties of nickel aluminides derived from AlNi3 in the present study were taken from Ansara et al. [4] and from
and AlNi. Although considerable work has been done already the updated version of this assessment by the same group
worldwide, the description of the phase equilibria of the ternary reported in Ref. [8].
AlNiSi system is far from being complete. Hence, it was the A detailed re-investigation of the NiSi system, including a
aim of a research project in our laboratory to perform a thermodynamic assessment, was performed by Du and
systematic investigation of the AlNiSi system. The first two Schuster [9]. Datta et al. [10], later carried out an extensive
parts, covering the composition range up to 66.7 at.% Ni, were research of the various phases and the related solid state
presented recently [1,2]. In this third and final part, we report reactions in the NiSi system, with samples that had been
the phase equilibria for the Ni-rich composition range up to prepared by mechanical alloying. Tokunaga et al. [11] gave a
100 at.% Ni. new thermodynamic assessment of the NiSi system which
All of the limiting binary systems are basically well known also includes thermodynamic data obtained from ab initio
and can be found in Massalskis compilation of binary phase calculations. However, our values for the binary NiSi system
were taken from Du and Schuster [9].
The most recent critical assessment of the ternary AlNiSi
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C431 4277 52910; fax: C431 4277 9529. system was carried out by Beuers et al. [12] and combined
E-mail address: [email protected] (K.W. Richter). available literature data up to the year 1991. The authors gave a
0966-9795/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. complete isothermal section at 600 8C and two tentative
doi:10.1016/j.intermet.2005.08.012 isothermal sections between 50 and 100 at.% Ni at 900
492 K. Chandrasekaran et al. / Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497

Table 1 Table 3
Crystal structure data for binary and ternary phases relevant to the present study Ternary invariant phase reactions reported earlier [1,2]

Phase Pearson Space Struc. Reference Ternary invariant reactions Temperature (8C)
symbol group type
E1: LZ(Al)C(Si)C(Al3Ni) 565
AlNi (B2) cP2 Pm3m ClCs [16] U1: LCt3Z(Al3Ni)C(Si) 659
AlNi3 cP4 Pm3m AuCu3 [16] U2: LC(Al3Ni2)Zt3C(Si) 775
(Ni) cF4 Fm3m Cu [16] P1: LC(Al3Ni)C(Al3Ni2)Zt3 778
Ni3Si (b1) cP4 Pm3m AuCu3 [16] U3: LCAlxNiSi2KxZ(Al3Ni2)C(Si) 839
Ni25Si9 (b2) hP34 Ge9Pd25 [18] Max1: LZ(Si)CAlxNiSi2Kx 1085
P3
E2: LZ(NiSi)Ct4Ct2 925
Ni3Si (b3) cF16 Fm3m BiF3 [12]
U4: LC(AlNi)Z(Al3Ni2)C(NiSi2) 1071
Ni31Si12 (g) hP43 P321 Ni31Si12 [16]
U5: LC(AlNi)Zt2C(NiSi2) 969
Ni2Si (d) oP12 Pnma Co2Si [16]
U6: LC(NiSi2)Z(NiSi)Ct2 928
Ni2Si (q) hP6 P63/mmc InNi2 [17]
P2: LCt4C(AlNi)Zt2 998
AlyNi13GxSi9Ky (t4) hP66 P3121 Ga3Ge6Ni13 [13]
Max2: LZ(AlNi)C(NiSi2) 1080
Max3: LC(AlNi)Z(Al3Ni2) 1155
a
and 1100 8C. In the composition range of interest here, the U: t4C(AlNi3)Zd-(Ni2Si)C(AlNi) 930
a
P: t4Cd-(Ni2Si)C(Ni2Si3)Zt5 786
isothermal section at 1100 8C shows an extended ternary solid a
U: t4C(AlNi)Zd-(Ni2Si)Ct2 z780
solution of Al and Si in Ni (up to 15.4 at.% Al and 15.3 at.% Si a
U: t4Cd-(Ni2Si)Zt5Ct2 z780
a
in the respective binaries). The other solid solution, Al1K U: t4Ct5Zt2C(Ni3Si2) z780
a
xNi3Six, extends to rather Ni-rich compositions, i.e. from 72.7
E: t4Zt2C(Ni3Si2)C(NiSi) 770
74.4 at.% Ni in the AlNi binary to 79 at.% Ni in the ternary. Note: t2, (AlNi2Si); t3, Al6Ni3Si; t4, AlyNi13GxSi9Ky. Note: Common phase
The phase t1, shown at the composition AlNi2Si in Ref. [12] field of t4 and q-Ni2Si assumed.
a
has already been proved to be part of an extended solid solution Ternary solid state invariant reactions, not labelled in Ref. [2].
of Al in d-Ni2Si or q-Ni2Si, respectively, and not an individual the calculated rather than to the experimental values given
ternary compound (compare Ref. [2]). The tentative isothermal in Ref. [9]. Table 3 summarizes the invariant ternary
section at 600 8C also shows t1 as a distinct ternary phase reactions of the AlNiSi phase diagram reported in our
without connection to the d-Ni2Si phase, which is not in previous studies [1,2].
agreement with our earlier results [2] as just mentioned above.
At 600 8C, Beuers et al. [12] show the solid solution of Al1K
xNi3Six up to xZ0.5 and a two-phase field [Al0.5Ni3Si0.5C
2. Experimental
Ni3Si]. In the composition range between 0 and 66.7 at.% Ni,
we refer to our phase diagram investigations reported A total number of 20 samples were prepared and
previously [1,2] and to the crystal structure investigations of investigated at constant Ni contents of 70, 75 and 80 at.%
AlyNi13GxSi9Ky (t4) [13] and the new low temperature phase
AlNi16Si9 [14].
A compilation of the binary and ternary phases within
the area of interest for this study is given in Table 1.
Invariant binary reactions relevant to the current work are
listed in Table 2 together with the respective references.
Note that the values for the NiSi system correspond to

Table 2
Binary phase equilibria relevant to the present study

Invariant reactions Tempera- Phase composition Refer-

ture (8C) (at.% Ni) ence
LC (Ni)Z(AlNi3) 1370 75.6 78.8 76.0 [4]
LZ(AlNi)C 1369 74.6 70.7 75.0 [4]
(AlNi3)
LC(q)Z(d) 1251 69.5a 66.5a 67.0a [9]
LZ(g)C(d) 1240 70.5a 71.5a 67.0a [9]
LC(g)Z(b3) 1199 75.5a 71.5a 75.0a [9]
LZ(Ni)C(b3) 1151 79.0a 83.0a 75.0a [9]
(b3)Z(b2), (Ni), (g) 1127 75.0a 75.0a [9]
(b2)C(Ni)Z(b1) 1042 77.0a 75.0a 82.0a [9]
(b2)Z(b1)C(g) 1015 75.5a 71.5a 75.0a [9]

(q), Ni2Si (high temperature form); (d), Ni2Si (low temperature form); (g), Fig. 1. Partial isothermal section of the AlNiSi phase diagram at 1000 8C
Ni31Si12; (b1), Ni3Si (low temperature form); (b2), Ni25Si9; (b3), Ni3Si (high between 60 and 100 at.% Ni. Black circles, Nominal compositions of the
temperature form). samples investigated by EPMA and XRD; Small white circles, Measured phase
a
Values taken from figure. compositions; Black diamonds, Samples annealed at 800 8C.
 K. Chandrasekaran et al. / Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497 493

Table 4
Lattice parameters (XRD) and phase compositions (EPMA) of samples annealed at 1000 8C

Nominal composition (in at.%) Phase identified Lattice parameter (in A)-XRD data Phase composition (in at.%)-EPMA data
Al Ni Si a b c Al Ni Si
25 66.7 8.3 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5606(4) 20.9 72.6 6.5
AlNi 2.8546(6) 32.1 63.5 4.4
q/t4 Not quenchablea 21.0 66.1 12.9
b
5 70 25 Al1KxNi3Six 3.524(1) 7.1 74.6 18.3
g-Ni31Si12 6.6773(8) 12.27(2) 0.8 71.6 27.6
(d-Ni2Si) 4.959(1) 3.7573(7) 7.159(4) 8.9 66.7 24.4
10 70 20 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5297(3) 9.4 74.7 15.9
(d-Ni2Si) 4.9559(7) 3.7624(3) 7.167(2) 10.5 67.0 22.5
15 70 15 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5445(3) 14.8 73.7 11.5
q/t4 Not quenchablea 15.2 66.5 18.3
b
20 70 10 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5607(5) 20.7 72.3 7.0
q/t4 Not quenchablea 20.2 67.0 12.8
b
25 70 5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5640(2) 22.5 71.8 5.7
AlNi 2.8608(5) 35.6 61.6 2.8
22.5 75 2.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5703(3) 22.7 74.8 2.5
20 75 5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5651(3) 20.2 74.8 5.0
17.5 75 7.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5516(4) 17.4 75.1 7.5
15 75 10 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5451(3) 14.7 75.2 10.1
12.5 75 12.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5386(3) 12.2 75.1 12.7
10 75 15 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5298(4) 9.7 74.9 15.4
7.5 75 17.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5246(6) 7.4 74.9 17.7
5 75 20 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5199(2) 5.0 75.1 19.9
g-Ni31Si12 Traces 0.5 71.5 28.0
2.5 75 22.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5144(3) 3.1 75.3 21.6
g-Ni31Si12 Traces 0.4 71.8 27.8
20 80 0 AlNi3 3.5688(2) 22.3 77.7 0.0
(Ni) 3.5524(3) 14.8 85.2 0.0
17.5 80 2.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5654(3) 19.9 77.2 2.9
(Ni) 3.5461(2) 13.4 84.7 1.9
15 80 5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5527(3) 17.0 77.3 5.7
(Ni) 3.5414(5) 11.6 84.5 3.9
12.5 80 7.5 Al1KxNi3Six 3.5470(4) 14.2 77.1 8.7
(Ni) 3.5386(5) 8.8 84.9 6.3
10 80 10 Al1KxNi3Six Overlap of reflexes 11.5 77.0 11.5
(Ni) 7.6 84.7 7.7
7.5 80 12.5 Al1KxNi3Six Overlap of reflexes 8.6 76.9 14.4
(Ni) 5.4 85.2 9.4
5 80 15 Al1KxNi3Six Overlap of reflexes 5.7 77.0 17.3
(Ni) 3.5 85.1 11.4
2.5 80 17.5 Al1KxNi3Six Overlap of reflexes 2.9 77.3 19.8
(Ni) 1.7 85.1 13.2
a
The powder pattern of the low temperature phase (d-Ni2Si) is observed in these samples.
b
Samples used were annealed at 800 8C.

and at some intermediate compositions of interest. Samples After quenching in water, the samples were investigated by
were prepared from aluminum rod (99.9999%, Alfa, Karlsruhe, means of differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction
Germany), silicon rod (99.9999%, Dow Corning, Midland, MI, (XRD), optical microscopy and electron probe micro analysis
USA) and nickel foil (99.9999%, Advent Res., Halesworth, (EPMA).
England). Calculated amounts of the pure elements were DTA measurements were carried out on a DTA 404S/3
weighed to an accuracy of 0.05 mg and then arc melted on a (Netzsch, Selb, Germany) using open alumina crucibles and
water-cooled copper plate under an argon atmosphere, using employing a permanent argon flow. A sample mass of
zirconium as the getter material. The obtained reguli with a approximately 200 mg was used for the experiments, and the
total mass of approximately 1500 mg were re-melted twice for samples were checked routinely for possible weight losses
homogenization and then weighed back in order to check for during the DTA experiment. A minimum of two heating and
possible weight losses (which, however, were negligible, i.e. cooling curves were recorded for each sample using a heating
less than 1 mg in all cases). For equilibration, the reguli were rate of 5 KminK1. The Pt/Pt10%Rh thermocouples of the DTA
then annealed for 3 weeks at 1000 8C in alumina crucibles that instrument were calibrated at the melting points of high purity
were sealed into evacuated quartz glass ampoules. Ni, Au and Al.
494 K. Chandrasekaran et al. / Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497

The phases present in the samples, as well as precise lattice 3.58

parameters were obtained by X-ray powder diffraction using a Values from Ref. [16]
3.57
Guinier-Huber camera (Huber, Rimsting, Germany) with Single phase
Two phase
monochromated Cu Ka1 radiation and employing an internal

Lattice Parameter /
3.56
standard of high purity Ge. 3.55
Polished pieces of the annealed samples were investigated
by optical microscopy using a Zeiss Axiotech 100 microscope. 3.54

The compositions of the individual phases in selected samples 3.53

were subsequently analyzed by EPMA on a Cameca SX100
3.52
electron probe (Cameca, Courbevoie, France) using wave-
length dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) for quantitative analysis 3.51
and employing pure aluminum, silicon and nickel as standard
3.50
materials. The measurements were carried out at 15 kV using a 0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0 17.5 20.0 22.5 25.0
beam current of 20 nA. Conventional ZAF matrix correction at. % Si
was used to calculate the final compositions from the measured
X-ray intensities. Fig. 2. Lattice parameter of the solid solution Al1KxNi3Six (AuCu3 type) as a
function of composition. The two-phase samples contain traces of g-Ni31Si12
(compare Table 4).
3. Results and discussion
contained also small amounts of g-Ni31Si12 indicating their
3.1. Isothermal section at 1000 8C position in the two-phase field. The Al1KxNi3Six phase field
extends from 72.6 [7] to 77.7 at.% Ni [this work] in the NiAl
A combination of XRD and EPMA data was used to binary and from approx. 75.7 to 77.1 at.% Ni (values taken
construct the isothermal section in Fig. 1, showing phase from the Fig. in Ref. [9]) in the NiSi binary. Note that the
equilibria between 60 and 100 at.% Ni. Table 4 gives XRD and stoichiometric composition Ni3Si is not included in the
EPMA data. Black circles in Fig. 1 denote the nominal homogeneity range of the binary b1-Ni3Si phase.
compositions of samples used for EPMA analysis and small The extended phase fields (AlNi), (d-Ni2Si) and (q/t4)
circles denote the phase compositions measured by EPMA. An shown in Fig. 1 have been established in our previous
error limit of about G0.5 at.% is estimated for the phase investigation of the central part of the AlNiSi system [2].
compositions of the various phase fields measured by EPMA. While (d-Ni2Si) is practically a line compound with a
The three-phase field [Al1KxNi3SixCq/t4Cd-Ni2Si], rep- relatively large solubility of Al in the ternary, (AlNi) and
resented by a dotted line, was not determined experimentally. (q/t4) exist as extended solid solutions. Five samples (in steps
Note that Fig. 1 also contains three additional samples (shown of 5 at.% Si) at a constant Ni content of 70 at.% and one
as black diamonds) which belong to a previous sample series additional sample of the composition Al25Ni66.7Si8.3 were
annealed at 800 8C and not at 1000 8C (compare Ref. [2]). analyzed to identify the three-phase fields expected in
These samples were used to complete the vertical section at this range. Two of the three-phase-fields, namely, [(AlNi)C
70 at.% Ni (DTA measurements) and their phase compositions (Al1KxNi3Six)C(q/t4)] and [(Al1KxNi3Six)C(d-Ni2Si)C(g-
are also listed in Table 4 together with the values of the series Ni31Si12)], were clearly identified from the XRD and EPMA
annealed at 1000 8C. analysis. The latter three-phase field was determined from a
The isothermal section in the Ni-rich corner of the AlNiSi sample annealed at 800 8C and is, therefore, shown in dashed
phase diagram is primarily dominated by two extended solid lines. The third three-phase field expected in this composition
solutions. The solubility of the main group elements (Al and Si) range, [(Al1KxNi3Six)C(q/t4)C(d-Ni2Si)], could not be
in Ni extends to about 15 at.% throughout the entire ternary identified and is thought to be rather narrow; it is therefore
system. The second extended phase field is the continuous solid represented by dotted lines. (g-Ni31Si12) shows a very limited
solution between the two isostructural binary phases g 0 -AlNi3 solubility of Al in the ternary, its composition limit was found
and b1-Ni3Si, designated as (Al1KxNi3Six). b1-Ni3Si itself, is to be 0.5 at.% Al, 71.5 at.% Ni, 28 at.% Si (Table 4). The
stable only up to 1042 8C, the intermediate phase b2 exists sample series at 80 at.% Ni was found to be situated
between 1015 and 1127 8C at which temperature it transforms completely in a two-phase field [(Ni)C(Al1KxNi3Six)] and
into b3, which further decomposes peritectically at 1199 8C. the tie lines found by EPMA agree very well with the overall
All temperatures were taken from Ref. [9].
sample compositions (Fig. 1).
A series of alloys were prepared within the section at
75 at.% Ni, in steps of 2.5 at.% Si. An analysis of the variation
of the cubic lattice parameter (Table 4) with increasing Si 3.2. Ternary phase reactions and liquidus surface
concentration reveals a steady, although not linear decrease in
the lattice parameter in the ternary (Fig. 2). This is consistent Parts of the samples annealed at 1000 8C and characterized
with a gradual substitution of Al by Si considering the smaller by XRD, were further studied by differential thermal analysis
atomic radius of Si compared to Al (rAlZ143.1 pm, rSiZ (DTA) to determine the ternary phase reactions within the
117 pm [15]). The two samples with 20 and 22.5 at.% Si vertical sections at 70, 75 and 80 at.% Ni, respectively.
 K. Chandrasekaran et al. / Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497 495

Fig. 3. Vertical sections in AlNiSi system at (a) 70, (b) 75 and (c) 80 at.% Ni. Large black circles, invariant thermal effects; triangles up, liquidus on heating;
triangles down, liquidus on cooling; small white circles, other thermal effects; (Note: Common phase field of t4 and q-Ni2Si assumed).

A graphical representation of the phase equilibria within these the corresponding effect observed in several heating runs. The
sections, including experimental data points, is shown in liquidus temperatures were evaluated both from the heating
Fig. 3(a)(c). The experimental data points shown in the figures (triangles up) and the cooling curves (triangles down),
(full and open circles) represent the mean temperature of respectively.
496 K. Chandrasekaran et al. / Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497

Table 5
Ternary invariant phase reactions derived from DTA

Reaction T (8C) Phase Composition (at.% Al, at.% Ni, at.% Si)
U7: LC(AlNi)ZAl1KxNi3SixCq/t4 1240 L: 14, 72, 14 (AlNi): 25, 66, 9 Al1KxNi3Six: 15, 75, 10 q/t4: 20, 67, 13
U8: LC(d)Zq/t4C(g) z1220a L: 2, 70, 28 (d): 1, 67, 32 q/t4: 1, 66, 33 (g): 1, 71, 28
U9: LCq/t4ZAl1KxNi3SixC(g) 1186 L: 6, 74, 20 q/t4: 15, 67, 18 Al1KxNi3Six: 13, 75, 12 (g): 1, 71, 28
U10: LC(g)ZAl1KxNi3SixC(b3) 1180 L: 3, 77, 20 (g): 1, 71, 28 Al1KxNi3Six: 11, 75, 14 (b3): 1, 75, 24
U11: LCAl1KxNi3SixZ(Ni)C(b3) 1157 L: 1, 79, 20 Al1KxNi3Six: 9, 76, 15 (Ni): 3, 85, 12 (b3): 1, 76, 23
U12: q/t4C(g)ZAl1KxNi3SixC(d) 1045 q/t4: 13, 67, 21 (g): 1, 28, 71 Al1KxNi3Six: 12, 74, 14 (d): 11, 67, 22
Max4: LZ(AlNi)Cq/t4 1280b L: 16, 67, 17 (AlNi): 31, 67, 2 q/t4: 13, 67, 20
a
Values estimated; not determined experimentally.
b
Ref. [2].

A total number of four invariant reactions involving the experimental data (DTA, XRD and EPMA) and the analysis
liquid phase (U7, U9, U10 and U11) could be derived from of the liquidus surface.
the DTA data (Table 5). The temperatures of the additional Ternary reactions and phase boundaries shown in
reactions U8 and U12 listed in Table 5 were not observed Fig. 3(a)(c) were drawn according to the isothermal
experimentally and were thus estimated during the overall section discussed previously and the invariant reactions
analysis of phase equilibria. Likewise, the ternary phase listed in Table 5. A reaction scheme consistent with our
equilibria connected with the complicated transformations of experimental results is proposed in the Scheil diagram
binary b-Ni3Si were not observed experimentally and are shown in Fig. 4.
therefore not included in Fig. 3. The maximum at 1280 8C All liquidus values determined by DTA were combined
(Max4) was taken from the previous work [2]. Table 5 with literature data for the limiting binary phase diagrams to
includes the averaged reaction temperatures and the yield a liquidus surface projection (Fig. 5) between 60 and
approximate compositions of the involved phases which 100 at.% Ni. Fig. 5 shows isotherms between 1200 and
were assessed based on a combination of all available 1500 8C as dotted lines. The liquidus valleys that separate

Fig. 4. Proposed ternary reaction scheme (Scheil Diagram) for all invariant reactions deduced.
 K. Chandrasekaran et al. / Intermetallics 14 (2006) 491497 497

and eleven transition reactions. The invariant reactions

involving only solid phases include one eutectoidic, one
peritectoidic and five transition reactions. Three distinct ternary
phases, namely, t2, t3 and t5 were identified, whereas it could be
shown in Ref. [2] that t1 is rather a part of the solid solution of Al
in d-Ni2Si than an independent ternary phase. t4 was found to
crystallize in a structure type which can be regarded as
superstructure of the InNi2 type proposed for binary q-Ni2Si
[13] and no evidence for separate phase fields of t4 and q was
found during our investigations. The two compounds are
consequently treated as a single phase field [2], although it
cannot be completely ruled out that they are in fact separate
phase fields. Besides the large solubility of Al and Si in (Ni),
several phases were found to form extended solid solutions:

1. Al1KxNi3Six, the solid solution between AlNi3 and Ni3Si,

2. Si in (AlNi),
3. Al in d-Ni2Si,
4. Si in Al3Ni2,
5. Al in NiSi2
Fig. 5. Partial liquidus surface projection of the AlNiSi system including
6. and the q/t4 phase field.
fields of primary crystallization. Solid lines, liquidus valleys; dotted lines,
isotherms; black circles, invariant reaction points. The other phases with rather small homogeneity ranges in
the ternary are AlNi2Si (t2), Al6Ni3Si (t3), AlNi16Si9 (t5),
the different phase fields of primary crystallization are Al3Ni, g-Ni31Si12, Ni3Si2 and NiSi.
shown as solid lines with arrows indicating the direction
towards lower temperature. The compositions of the liquid Acknowledgements
phase in the various binary and ternary invariant reactions
and the respective maxima listed in Tables 2 and 5 are Financial support from the Austrian Science Foundation
shown as filled circles in Fig. 5. (FWF) under the project number P-14762-PHY is gratefully
The entire liquidus surface is dominated by large fields of acknowledged.
primary crystallization of the solid solutions (Ni), (AlNi), (q/t4)
and (Al1KxNi3Six). It is interesting to note that Al1KxNi3Six has
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