Thermodynamics and mechanism of demixing in undercooled Cu–Co–Ni alloys

This work deals with the effect of Ni addition on the liquid–liquid phase separation in the Cu–Co system which displays a liquid metastable miscibility gap. Cu–Co–Ni samples with different compositions have been processed by differential scanning calorimetry using a fluxing technique to precisely determine transformation temperatures. The ternary phase diagram has been evaluated by Calphad, extrapolating the binary systems and optimizing ternary parameters using the experimental results of the present work. Ni additions reduce the demixing temperature, bringing the binodal line below the peritectic. The mechanisms of demixing and formation of microstructures have been clarified for low and high Ni content.