Data and analyses of phase relations in the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary system

These data and analyses support the research article “Experimental study on phase relations in the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary system” Zhu et al. (2017) [1]. The data and analyses presented here include the experimental results of XRD, SEM and EPMA for the determination of the whole liquidus projection and the isothermal section at 823 K in the Ce-Fe-Sb system. All the results enable the understanding of the constituent phases and the solidification processes of the as-cast alloys as well as the phase relations and the equilibrium regions at 823 K in the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary system over the entire composition.


How data was acquired
Microscope, SEM, XRD, EPMA of as-cast and annealed samples

Data format Raw, analyzed Experimental factors
The as-cast samples were prepared and the isothermal heat treatment was conducted as reported in a previous study [1].

Experimental features
The as-cast alloys were used to determine the primarily crystallized phases, to construct the liquidus projection diagram, and to analyze the solidification processes. And the heat-treated samples were prepared to measure the phase equilibria and to construct the isothermal section.

Data source location
Data was collected in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China. (39°26N, 117°30 E) Data accessibility The data are available with this article and within the Ref. [1] Related research article Experimental study on phase relations in the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary system (in press)

Value of the Data
(1) These data presented for the measurement of the liquidus projections in the Ce-Fe-Sb system have never been made public before.
(2) These data create understanding of the phase relations and phase equilibria of the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary in detail.
(3) Future thermodynamic assessments of the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary or related systems can be based on these data to construct a multi-component thermodynamical database.

Data
These raw data, containing the experimental results of XRD, SEM and EPMA for the determination of the whole liquidus projection and the isothermal section at 823 K in the Ce-Fe-Sb system, are obtained from Ref. [1].

Experimental design, materials, and methods
All experimental design, materials and methods were based on reported paper [1].

Liquidus projection over the entire composition range
For the liquidus projection of the Ce-Fe-Sb ternary system constructed in present work, there exist 17 primary solidification regions. Except the descriptions of the primary solidification regions (CeSb), (FeSb), τ 1 , τ 2 and τ 3 in Ref. [1], the remaining regions are fully shown and described as follows.
It should be noted that within the XRD spectra of the as-cast alloys #1-10, some diffraction peaks of Ce 2 O 3 exist since the very easy oxidation of these Ce-rich alloys after their exposing to air, resulting in the dark-grey distributions of cracks and pits along with the dark phase (γCe) within the backscattered electron images.
2.1.1. Primary solidification region of (α/δFe) The X-ray diffractogram and BEI micrographs of Ce-72Fe-25Sb (#1) as-cast alloy are shown in Fig. 1. The microstructure consists of a large and black primary phase (α/δFe), a darkþ grey two-phase  which was also divorced. The crystal structure and the composition of the different phases were determined using XRD and EPMA respectively. Within the XRD spectra of the as-cast samples as shown in Fig. 1(a), some diffraction picks of Ce 2 O 3 exist since the very easy oxidation of the Cecontaining alloys after their exposing to air. The average compositions of the primary solidification phase (α/δFe) and the subsequent solidification phases (FeSb) and τ 3 in the divorced eutectic structures are Ce-96.97Fe-3.00Sb, Ce-54.21Fe-44.00Sb and Ce-36.86Fe-44.97Sb respectively as listed in Table 1.

Primary solidification region of (γFe)
Ce-58Fe-2Sb (#3) The microstructure of Ce-58Fe-2Sb (#3) as-cast alloy consists of a small and black primary phase (γFe), a dark-grey phase Ce 2 Fe 17 which grew in a peritectic-type manner from the phase (γFe), a lightgrey phase CeFe 2 and a light-grey þ white two-phase eutectic CeFe 2 þ Ce 2 Sb. The primary phase (γFe) is of a small volume fraction, indicating that the nominal composition of #3 as-cast alloy is very close to the peritectic ridge L þ(γFe)→Ce 2 Fe 17 (Fig.3).
It should be pointed out that within the XRD spectra of some alloys, the diffraction peaks of Ce 2 O 3 , Sb 2 O 5 and Fe 2 O 3 exist since the very easy oxidation of these alloys after their exposing to air, resulting in the dark-grey distributions of cracks and pits.