The ternary system cerium–rhodium–silicon

Phase relations have been established in the ternary system Ce–Rh–Si for the isothermal section at 800 °C based on X-ray powder diffraction and EPMA on about 80 alloys, which were prepared by arc melting under argon or by powder reaction sintering. From the 25 ternary compounds observed at 800 °C 13 phases have been reported earlier. Based on XPD Rietveld refinements the crystal structures for 9 new ternary phases were assigned to known structure types. Structural chemistry of these compounds follows the characteristics already outlined for their prototype structures: τ7—Ce3RhSi3, (Ba3Al2Ge2-type), τ8—Ce2Rh3−xSi3+x (Ce2Rh1.35Ge4.65-type), τ10—Ce3Rh4−xSi4+x (U3Ni4Si4-type), τ11—CeRh6Si4 (LiCo6P4-type), τ13—Ce6Rh30Si19.3 (U6Co30Si19-type), τ18—Ce4Rh4Si3 (Sm4Pd4Si3-type), τ21—CeRh2Si (CeIr2Si-type), τ22—Ce2Rh3+xSi1−x (Y2Rh3Ge-type) and τ24—Ce8(Rh1−xSix)24Si (Ce8Pd24Sb-type). For τ25—Ce4(Rh1−xSix)12Si a novel bcc structure was proposed from Rietveld analysis. Detailed crystal structure data were derived for τ3—CeRhSi2 (CeNiSi2-type) and τ6—Ce2Rh3Si5 (U2Co3Si5-type) by X-ray single crystal experiments, confirming the structure types. The crystal structures of τ4—Ce22Rh22Si56, τ5—Ce20Rh27Si53 and τ23—Ce33.3Rh58.2−55.2Si8.5−11.5 are unknown. High temperature compounds with compositions Ce10Rh51Si33 (U10Co51Si33-type) and CeRhSi (LaIrSi-type) have been observed in as-cast alloys but these phases do not participate in the phase equilibria at 800 °C.