Thermodynamic description of the Au-Ge-Sb ternary system

The Ge-Sb binary system has been thermodynamically assessed using the CALPHAD method based on the available experimental information from the published literature. The solution phases, including liquid, fccA1(Au), diamondA4(Ge) and rhombohedralA7(Sb), were modeled as substitutional solutions, of which the excess Gibbs energies were expressed by a Redlich-Kister polynomial. The intermetallic compound AuSb2 was assumed to have no ternary solubility because of the lack of experimental information. Combined with previous assessments of the Au-Ge and Au-Sb binary systems, the thermodynamic description of the Au-Ge-Sb ternary system has been performed. The liquidus projection and several vertical sections of this ternary system have been calculated, which are in reasonable agreement with the reported experimental data.