Formation of Finely Divided Silver-Tin Powders by Electrodeposition

SUMMARYFinely-divided silver-tin powders were electrodeposited at a rotating cylinder cathode from an aqueous sodium stannate-silver cyanide bath. It is shown that the full compositional range Ag 100% to Sn 100% can be prepared by variation in bath content. Current-potential and powder composition versus bath composition relationships are shown. X-ray analysis shows the deposit to contain both a mixture of the parent metals and the intermetallic. Annealing increases the proportion of the intermetallic. Scanning electron microscopy shows the deposit to be an aggregate of finely divided dendritic crystals.