Age Hardened ASTM B563 Palladium-Silver-Copper Alloy
Age hardened ASTM B563 is ASTM B563 Pd-Ag-Cu in the aged (precipitation hardened) condition. It has the highest strength and lowest ductility compared to the other variants of ASTM B563 Pd-Ag-Cu.
The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare age hardened ASTM B563 to: precious metal electrical contact alloys (top), all alloys in the same category (middle), and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.
Mechanical Properties
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
100 GPa 15 x 106 psi
Elongation at Break
7.0 %
Fatigue Strength
310 MPa 45 x 103 psi
Knoop Hardness
350
Poisson's Ratio
0.37
Shear Modulus
37 GPa 5.4 x 106 psi
Shear Strength
690 MPa 100 x 103 psi
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
1170 MPa 170 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Latent Heat of Fusion
150 J/g
Melting Completion (Liquidus)
1180 °C 2160 °F
Melting Onset (Solidus)
1030 °C 1890 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
260 J/kg-K 0.063 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Expansion
14 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
11 g/cm3 690 lb/ft3
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume
6.7 % IACS
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific)
5.5 % IACS
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
5.2 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
14 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
30 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
22 points
Thermal Shock Resistance
61 points
Alloy Composition
| Pd | 43 to 45 | |
| Ag | 37 to 39 | |
| Cu | 15.5 to 16.5 | |
| Ni | 0.8 to 1.2 | |
| Pt | 0.8 to 1.2 | |
| res. | 0 to 0.4 |
All values are % weight. Ranges represent what is permitted under applicable standards.
Followup Questions
Further Reading
ASTM B563: Standard Specification for Palladium-Silver-Copper Electrical Contact Alloy
CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook, 4th ed., James F. Shackelford et al. (editors), 2015