Effect of heat treatments on the portevin-le chatelier effects in aluminium-silver alloys

Abstract

The effect of solute content and heat treatment on occurrence of the P-L effect were investigated in AlAg alloys. The activation energies estimated from values of the critical strains were nearly equal to that for solute migration in AlMg alloys, which means that the P-L effects in AlAg alloys were caused by the same mechanism as in AlMg alloys. The P-L effects in Al-0.5 and 1.0 at.%Ag alloys occurred in the furnace cooled specimens only, on the other hand in 2.5 and 4.0% alloys it occurred in the quenched specimens only. In order to explain these results it seems better to adopt the cluster theory rather than the Cottrell theory.