Experimental investigation on phase equilibria of Ce-Sn-Zn system at 400 °C

The Ce-Sn-Zn alloys were prepared by furnace melting. The isothermal section of the Ce-Sn-Zn system at 400 °C over the whole composition range was established by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). A new ternary compound, CeSn2Zn2, was discovered in the present work. This compound adopted CaBe2Ge2 structure type (space group P4/nmm) with the lattice parameters of a=0.4455 (9) nm and c=1.0348 (1) nm. The existence of previously known ternary compounds, CeSnZn and Ce2SnZn3, were confirmed, too. The maximum solubility of Zn in CeSn3 was determined to be 12.7 at.%.