Effect of solubility on strengthening of Ag–Cu ultrafine eutectic composites

Abstract A series of binary Ag 80− x Cu 20+ x ultrafine eutectic composites with x  = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 is prepared by copper mold casting in order to systematically investigate an influence of asymmetrical solubility between Ag and Cu solid solutions on the strengthening of ultrafine eutectic composites. The asymmetrical solubility of the ultrafine eutectic composites determined by the effective solubility index derived from rule of mixtures plays an important role to maintain the strength even with increasing the volume fraction of the micron-scale dendrites. Based on the results, the control of the strengthening of the ultrafine eutectic composites is governed by not only well-known volume fraction of the micron-scale dendrites but also the solubility in the micron-scale dendrites.