Binary niobium alloying with low-melting metals by precipitation of nanoparticles

Abstract

Binary niobium alloys with tin, lead and cadmium were obtained by precipitation of nanosized metal particles dispersed in lowpressure plasma using the thermal fluctuation melting effect. The thermal fluctuation melting effect implies that a small particle is in the quasi-liquid state up to a certain critical size which, if exceeded due to steam condensation or fusion (coalescence) of other quasiliquid particles, results in the drop crystallization. The critical sizes of particles being in the quasi-liquid state and capable of coalescing and forming an alloy – solid solution – were found: Nb – 2.1÷2.2 nm, Sn – 0.4 nm, Pb – 0.6 nm, Cd – 3.2 nm. The following concentrations were determined as the boundary of a range where solid metal solutions exist in niobium, at%: Sn – 25.5, Pb – 23.0, Cd – 64.5. The solid solution is a crystal lattice of the niobium as a matrix metal comprising lead, cadmium and tin atoms. The Nb matrix lattice parameters change with additional stresses arising in it up to its destruction due to the fact that the atom sizes of embedded metals differ from those of matrix niobium. The body-centered cubic lattice parameters of solid solutions increase with the rising Pb, Cd и Sn concentrations since they have larger atomic sizes as compared to niobium. A change in the crystal lattice growth rate was observed for lead and cadmium alloys due to a change in the impurity atom arrangement in the niobium matrix lattice. The critical sizes of metal particles obtained were used to estimate surface tension parameters at the crystal/melt interface as follows: 1.17–1.22 J/m2 for Nb, 1.15·10–2 – for Sn; 1.48·10–2 – for Pb; 0.142 – for Cd. Refractory niobium alloying with tin, lead and cadmium is an example of using the size effect to produce new materials.