Equilibrium Relations in Aluminum-antimony Alloys of High Purity

THE consideration of alloying elements for aluminum has led to a series of investigations of the equilibrium relations between aluminum and those alloying elements. Therefore, the aluminum end of the aluminum-antimony diagram has been studied. The general form of the aluminum-antimony equilibrium diagram has been worked out by Campbell and Mathews1 and by Tammann.2 Campbell and Mathews described principally the beginning of solidification. They found the curve of beginning of solidification to rise gradually from the melting point of pure aluminum to a maximum at about 67 per cent. aluminum. After a slight lowering of the curve at a little greater antimony concentration the curve again rises to a maximum at 18.4 per cent. aluminum, which corresponds to the compound AlSb. The curve then drops to the melting point of pure antimony. Tammann explained the maximum occurring at about 67 per cent. aluminum as the result of the slow formation of the single compound AlSb. The space lattice of the compound AlSb, according to Owen and Preston,3 is face-centered cubic, the antimony atoms being intermeshed with an identical aluminum lattice. Very little, if any, work has been done on aluminum alloys containing small amounts of antimony.