Cu-As-Sb system: Determination of phase diagram

ASCUNISB will focus on the physico-chemical properties of copper (Cu) mined from sulfosalt minerals, which are characterised by high concentrations of arsenic (As) and antimony (Sb).

Despite being the earliest produced alloy, the characteristics of Cu-As-Sb based alloys are poorly understood, and no phase diagram of such ternary alloys exist; consequently, material characteristics of such alloys are widely unknown.

ASCUNISB aims to achieve the following research objectives:1) Build phase diagrams for Cu-As-Sb alloys with 1-40 at.% of As, Sb: investigate the phases of each alloy and identify unknown phases with desirable properties; understand initial phase formation, stability, and changes in alloys over the passage of time at different temperatures; explain and predict specific material behaviour during thermomechanical treatment; understand the effects of Sb addition on parent Cu-As alloys.2) Create a base for new applications: Cu-As based alloys have superior ductility and corrosion resistance than pure copper and other copper alloys.

ASCUNISB will provide the data for Cu-As-Sb alloys to enable new applications in material engineering and find modern-day uses for them, and, consequently3) Reduce economic and environmental costs of refining and pollution: through new applications of the Cu-As alloys studied, As and Sb would not need to be removed from mined sulfosalt minerals;4) Provide a database for urgent research questions in prehistory: ASCUNISB will provide the data needed to assess the earliest metal technologies in prehistory and explain the adaption, recycling, and disregarded Cu-As alloys c. 2300 BCE.ASCUNISB applies an interdisciplinary approach by combining X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), metallographic and chemical analysis (SEM-EDXS, optical microscopy) of Cu-As-Sb alloys.