Intermetallic compounds in the M-Cu-Sn systems with M = Eu, Sr, Ba

Several samples were prepared in the title systems, starting from the elements sealed under argon in Ta crucibles, melting in an induction fornace and annealing at 823 K. Six ternary phases were found: EuCu(2)Sn(2), a = 11.100 (3), b = 4.307 (1), c = 4.824 (1) angstrom, beta = 108.88 (1)degrees, and SrCu(2)Sn(2), a = 11.197 (4), b = 4.322 (2), c = 4.859 (1) angstrom, beta = 108.43 (1)degrees, C2/m, CaCu(2)Sn(2)-type, closely related to the BaAl(4) structure; Sr(3)Cu(8)Sn(4), a = 93280 (2), c = 7.8826 (4) angstrom, P6(3)mc, Nd(3)Co(8)Sn(4)-type, ordered variant of the BaLi(4)-type; SrCu(4)Sn(2), a = 8.176 (1), c = 7.799 (1) angstrom, I4/mcm, CaNi(4)Sn(2)-type; SrCu(9)Sn(4), a = 8.663 (1), c = 12.457 (2) angstrom, and BaCu(9)Sn(4), a = 8.717 (1), c = 12.545 (2) angstrom, I4/mcm, LaFe(9)Si(4)-type, ordered variant of the NaZn(13) structure. The structure of the first compound was refined by the Rietveld method, while single crystal data were used for the others. Some remarks are given on the crystal chemistry of the encountered and related structure types. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.