The Solid Solubilities Of The Elements Of The Periodic Sub-Group Vb In Copper

ACCURATE knowledge of the solid solubilities of the elements that dissolve in the important base metals is needed for guidance in the preparation and heat-treatment of the alloys derived from these compo-nents. While there is still difference of opinion concerning the merits of the X-ray and microscopic methods of determining such solubilities, it is certainly true that the recent extensive use of X-ray diffraction to review the existing constitutional data has revealed many glaring inaccu-racies and has brought about a much improved knowledge of phase-boundary locations, which will inevitably come to include all of the important alloy systems. When the work is done with all necessary precautions it appears that in the majority of cases where the solubilities extend beyond a few tenths of a per cent the X-ray back-reflection technique is capable of furnishing the best of information in this field. For the most prolonged and thorough studies it is obviously advisable to combine the results of several methods, in particular, to obtain an agreement between X-ray and microscopic data. This paper reviews the work previously done on the solubilities of phosphorus, arsenic, antimony and bismuth in copper and, in considera-tion of the uncertainties thus made apparent, presents, new X-ray data obtained with the first three members of this group.