Experimental Investigation of the Zn-V-Sb System at 450 °C

Phase diagram of the Zn-V-Sb ternary system has been studied experimentally by means of scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectrometric and x-ray diffraction. Twelve different tri-phase regions could be confirmed in this system at 450 °C. Moreover, a new ternary compound named VZnSb, whose composition range spanned from 30.4-32.4 at.% V, 30.5-34.0 at.% Zn and 34.7-37.1 at.% Sb, is positively identified for the first time, and the crystal structure of VZnSb is not resolved. The VZnSb phase could be equilibrated with V 3 Sb, SbZn, Sb 2 Zn 3 , Sb 3 Zn 4 and η-Zn. Experimental results indicated that the solubility of V in SbZn, Sb 3 Zn 4 , Sb 2 Zn 3 and α-Sb is very limited. On the other hand, the maximum solubility of Zn in VSb 2 , VSb and V 3 Sb is up to 1.8, 9.1 and 3.7 at.%, respectively. The solubility of Sb in VZn 3 is up to 0.4 at.%, and η-Zn dissolves up to 1.3 at.% V and 2.0 at.% Sb.