A coupled experimental and thermodynamic assessment of the Mg-Bi-Sb and Zn-Bi-Sb ternary system and extrapolate to the Mg-Bi-Zn-Sb system

Abstract

The magnesium-bismuth-antimony (Mg-Bi-Sb) system as a promising system for developing the alloy-type anode of magnesium recharge batteries and creep-resistant magnesium alloys has drawn widespread attention. Additionally, zinc-bismuth-antimony (Zn-Bi-Sb) alloys are candidates of the advanced thermoelectric materials. Hereby, the phase equilibria and transformation temperatures of the Mg-Bi-Sb ternary system were studied via thermodynamic modeling coupled with key experiments. The isothermal section of the Mg-rich corner at 500°C in the Mg-Bi-Sb ternary system was experimentally constructed and no new ternary compound was observed in this work. The calculated phase equilibria of the Mg-Bi-Sb ternary system can reproduce most of the measured data in this work using the current optimized thermodynamic parameters. Meanwhile, the binary Zn-Sb and ternary Zn-Bi-Sb systems were re-assessed based on the available literature data, respectively. A set of self-consistent parameters describing the ternary Zn-Bi-Sb system were achieved, and the present calculated results are in good agreement between phase equilibria as well as thermodynamic properties. The tentative Mg-Zn-Sb and Mg-Bi-Zn-Sb systems were then developed using the extrapolation method.