Equilibrium Relations in the Nickel-tin System

LITTLE work has been done in the field of the nickel-tin binary system. The complete diagram has been investigated on two occasions, but the results are in very poor agreement. The structure of a compound NiSn, and the solubility of tin in nickel have been determined by X-ray methods. Several investigations have been made of the liquidus curve, and the compositions of the eutectics have been determined. A study of the literature, however, shows that there is no satisfactory agreement between the data presented in the various papers. The present investigation was undertaken in an attempt to determine the equilibrium conditions, and to correlate X-ray with metallographic data. The equilibrium diagram was determined by thermal and metallo-graphic means, and the solubility of tin in nickel further investigated with X-rays. Powder diagrams were made of the intermetallic com-pounds, and three of the structures were partly determined. No attempt was made to determine the range of homogeneity of the inter-metallic compounds.