Annealing Kinetics of Vacancies in Aluminum Single Crystals with Low Dislocation Density

Abstract

Supersaturated vacancies were introduced in high purity aluminum single crystals with comparatively low dislocation densities by air-cooling from temperatures between 300°C and 400°C, and their decays during aging at 50°C were studied by means of the electrical resistance measurement. The S-shaped decay profile was observed clearly when the initial concentration of vacancies is low. The profile was explained by the clustering of vacancies, and the process is describable by a model which takes into account the association and dissociation of small vacancy clusters containing vacancies less than ten and their growth to larger clusters.