Production of Ag-Pd alloys by mechanical alloying

Silver-palladium alloys in the whole composition range have been produced by mechanical alloying using as metallic precursor silver and palladium powders prepared in our laboratories by the polyol process. The influence of milling conditions on the crystalline or amorphous nature of the Ag50Pd50 alloys obtained was investigated. Increasing the ratio of ball mass/initial powder mass decreases the time required for the formation of a crystalline alloy. At longer milling times, however, the crystalline alloy transforms into an amorphous alloy. The morphology of Ag70Pd30 alloys as well as the reaction kinetics were found to depend on the initial particle size of both silver and palladium powders.