X-ray,thermodymanic,and resistivity studies in Au–Cd alloys (β-phase)

The β-phase of the Au–Cd alloy system exhibits two types of martensitic phase transformation at temperatures of 300±50 K. In the present investigation, the crystallographic, thermodynamic, and resistivity parameters of all phases accompanying the phase transformations have been directly determined. The resistivity and thermodynamic studies have been carried out over a wide range of temperatures. The entropy of mixing term has been interpreted as resulting from positional and vibrational contributions at lower temperatures. At higher temperatures, a high degree of order persists. An attempt has been made to correlate qualitatively the experimental results from the independent studies reported in the present paper.

MST/486