it are cooled by the transfer of heat from the composition through the hearth to the coolant water the system is not reliant on air cooling because of its water cooling means the entire process preferably occurs in the chamber which is filled with argon gas after evacuating the chamber exposure to air cannot be allowed because oxygen or air would oxidize the palladium and the boron ruining the process the process is usually performed in a container with a noble gas typically argon in this process palladium is placed in the compartment 12 so that it is overlying the boron powder in the cavity the palladium is preferably introduced in a pure palladium sponge form the palladium boron alloy produced in accordance with the present invention preferably comprises about 0 05 to 2 0 percent by weight boron most preferably 0 1 to 0 8 weight percent and from about 98 0 to 99 95 percent by weight percent palladium most preferably from about 99 2 to 99 9 weight percent the amount of boron present in the cavity is fixed so that it is small enough not to form a compound of boron in the palladium but is sufficient to react with oxygen in the palladium while the boron is in solid solution in the palladium very small amounts of the composite are used herein typically there will be 100 g.