Electron-microscopic examination of a splat-cooled silver-germanium alloy

Abstract

Extremely rapid solidification of a Ag-15 at.% Ge alloy results in the formation of a highly irregular structure. The individual grains consist of a lamellar mixture of close-packed structures with different stacking sequences (f.c.c. and h.c.p. phases as well as long-period stacking structures), superposed with a high density of randomly arranged stacking faults. It is concluded that the structure observed at room temperature may have formed by martensitic transformation of a metastable b.c.c. phase which is formed first upon solidification.