SAMPLE EXERCISE 11.4 Predicting the Structure of a two-Element Alloy
As noted at the beginning of this chapter, pure gold is too soft to use in jewelry. So too is pure silver. However, sterling silver, which is 93% Ag and 7% Cu by mass, is widely used in jewelry. The presence of Cu inhibits tarnishing and strengthens the alloy. Is this copper-silver alloy a substitutional or an interstitial alloy? Silver has a cubic closest-packed (ccp) structure with face-centered cubic (fcc) unit cells.
COLLECT AND ORGANIZE We are asked to decide whether Cu alloys with Ag by forming a substitutional alloy or an interstitial alloy. Elements form substitutional alloys when the atoms of the elements have similar sizes. According to Table 11.2, interstitial alloys may form only when atoms of an alloying element are less than about 73% the size of the atoms in a closest-packed lattice of the host element. We are given that the atoms in solid Ag form fcc unit cells and are closest-packed. The atomic radii of Ag Cu are 144 and 128 pm, respectively.