Age-hardening behavior and the related changes in a Silver-Copper-Palladium alloy

Age hardening behavior and the related changes were studied to elucidate the hardening mechanism of an Ag–Cu–Pd alloy by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), hardness test, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations and an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The results showed that the hardness of the alloy was raised to 90% and 68% of its solution state value by isothermal aging at 300 ◦C and 400 ◦C, respectively. However, aging at 500 ◦C led to a decrease in the hardness of the alloy. Moreover, while age hardening at 300 ◦C occurred because of coherency strains between the (111) plane of Ag-rich and the (111) plane of Cu3Pd phases, the mechanism of aging at 400 ◦C was the formation of Cu3Pd superlattice with the L12-type crystal structure. In contrast, reduction of the Cu3Pd phase from the microstructure and formation of the Cu solid solution decreased hardness during aging at 500oC.