P. Virtanen et T. Tiainen, EFFECT OF NICKEL CONTENT ON THE DECOMPOSITION BEHAVIOR AND PROPERTIESOF CUNISN ALLOYS, Physica status solidi. a, Applied research, 159(2), 1997, pp. 305-316
Age hardening behaviour and consequent properties of several copper-ni
ckel-tin alloys were studied by means of hardness and conductivity mea
surements and analytical electron microscopy. Alloy CuNi6Sn7 (in wt%)
was spinodally decomposing, and the properties of the alloy were fairl
y similar to the well known alloy CuNi9Sn6. The decomposition behaviou
r of low-nickel alloys CuNi(2 to 4)Sn7 was dependent on the age harden
ing temperature. The electrical conductivity of the low-nickel alloys
was not found to be significantly better than of the standard spinodal
alloys. Long-term isothermal heat treatments indicated that the equil
ibrium solubility of nickel and tin in copper is lower than expected.