Isothermal section of the ternary phase diagram U-Fe-Ge at 900 °C and its new intermetallic phases

The isothermal section at 900 °C of the U-Fe-Ge ternary system was assessed using experimental results from X-ray diffraction and observations by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy chemical analysis. The phase diagram at this temperature is characterized by the formation of fourteen stable phases: four homogeneity ranges and ten intermetallic compounds. Among these, there is an extension of the binary compound UFe2 into the ternary system (UFe2−xGex,x < 0.15), three ternary line compounds, U2Fe17−xGex (2 < x < 3.7), UFe1−xGe2 (0.58 < x < 0.78), UFe6+xGe6−x (x < 0.7), and ten ternary stoichiometric compounds, U2Fe3Ge, U6Fe16Ge7, UFe4Ge2, U6Fe22Ge13, UFeGe, U3Fe4Ge4, UFe2Ge2, U34Fe3.32Ge33, U3Fe2Ge7, and U9Fe7Ge24.