Effect of Heat Treatment on Positron Annihilation Lifetime of an Extruded Al-12.7Si-0.7Mg Alloy

Abstract

Positron annihilation lifetime can reflect the information of electronic density. Therefore this technique is very sensitive to the vacancies. Therefore positron annihilation technology (PAT) is a non-destructive testing technology for the investigation on the vacancy in pure metals and alloys. The vacancy defects of as-cast pure aluminium and the extruded Al-12.7Si-0.7Mg alloy before and after heat treatment were investigated by positron annihilation lifetime spectra. The results of positron annihilation lifetime spectra show that the lifetime of free positron annihilation in the pure aluminium alloy is 155 ps. The positron annihilation lifetime of the extruded sample is longer than the lifetime in the pure aluminium due to the formation of grain boundary and dislocation during the extrusion process. The positron annihilation lifetime of the extruded sample after heat treatment is shorter than that before the heat treatment, and it is longer than that of the pure sample.