Dispersion-Strengthened Rhodium-Platinum

This article describes the properties and characteristics of a new addition to the range of platinum-based alloys for high-temperature structural use, known commercially as ZGS 10 per cent rhodium-platinum. The processes developed at the Johnson Matthey Research Centre for the introduction of a highly dispersed non-metallic phase into pure platinum, outlined in a previous article in this journal, have now been further optimised to a stage where a similar strengthening dispersion can be produced within a rhodium-platinum alloy matrix. The resulting material is significantly stronger and more creep resistant than the conventional high-temperature rhodium-platinum alloys, while retaining the useful electrical and chemical properties that have made these alloys so attractive as materials of construction in many industrially important areas.