Experimental Investigation of the Isothermal Section in Fe-Gd-Pd Ternary System at 873 K

Isothermal section of Fe-Gd-Pd ternary system at 873 K has been established by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy disperse x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) in backscattered electron imaging modes. The isothermal section consists of 14 single-phase regions, 25 two-phase regions, and 12 three-phase regions. At 873 K, no ternary compound was found and the binary inermetallic compounds Gd3Pd and Fe23Gd6 are not stable, whereas the compound Fe23Gd6 decomposes into compounds Fe17Gd2 and Fe3Gd. The XRD and the SEM/EDS analysis show that there is almost no solubility of Gd in the FePd and FePd3 phases, and the solubilities of Pd in Fe17Gd2, Fe3Gd and Fe2Gd and Fe in GdPd2, α-Gd3Pd4 and Gd3Pd2 are all less than 1 at.%. Meanwhile, the solubilities of Fe in GdPd3, α-GdPd and Gd7Pd3 are determined to be as high as 1.37, 5.31, and 4.18 at.% Fe, respectively.