Microstructure, hardness and electrical properties of the selected ternary Ag-Bi-Ge alloys were investigated in this study. Isothermal sections of the Ag-Bi-Ge system at 25, 100 and 500 °C have been extrapolated using optimized thermodynamic parameters from literature and experimentally investigated. Performed experiments were optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), hardness measurements by Brinell method and electrical conductivity measurements. EDS results were compared with predicted phase equilibria and good overall agreement between experimental and calculated values was obtained. XRD results were also in agreement with predicted phase equilibria. Hardness and electrical conductivity of selected alloys were measured and by using appropriated mathematical model these properties were predicted in the whole composition range.

The paper reports comparative experimental and thermodynamic calculation of a Cu-In-Ni ternary system. An isothermal section of the Cu-In-Ni system at 300 ºC was extrapolated using optimized thermodynamic parameters for the constitutive binary systems from literature. Microstructural and phase composition analysis were carried out using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) technique. Brinell hardness and electrical conductivity of a selected number of alloy samples with compositions along three vertical sections (Cu-In0.5Ni0.5, In-Cu0.8Ni0.2, and x(In) = 0.4) of the studied Cu-In-Ni system were experimentally determined. Based on the obtained experimental results and by using appropriate mathematical models values of hardness and electrical conductivity for the whole ternary system were predicted. A close agreement between calculations and experimental results was obtained both in case of thermodynamic, electrical conductivity and hardness predictions.

Beside their technological importance in soldering, the low melting eutectic alloys based on bismuth and indium have potential for commercial application in the field of phase-change materials (PCMs). In this respect, the knowledge of their microstructure and thermal properties such as melting temperature, latent heat of melting, supercooling tendency, thermal conductivity, etc. is of large importance. In this study, two ternary eutectic Bi-In-Sn alloys were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Microstructure of the prepared eutectic alloys was analyzed using SEM-EDS and identification of co-existing phases was done. Melting temperatures and latent heats of eutectic melting were measured using DSC technique. Experimentally obtained results were compared with the results of thermodynamic calculation according to CALPHAD (calculation of phase diagram) approach and good mutual agreement was obtained.

Two Cu-Zn-Al alloys with variable content of Zn (25 and 30 wt%) and constant Al content (4 wt%) prepared by induction melting of pure metals and hot rolled into strips of 0.5 mm thickness were thermally processed by using three different heat treatments: direct quenching, step-quenching and up-quenching with boiling water and room temperature water as the quenchants. The effects of composition and different methods of heat treatment on the microstructure and transformation temperatures of the investigated Cu-Zn-Al alloys were investigated using SEM-EDS and DSC techniques.