Effects of Aging Temperature on the Formation of Secondary Defects in Quenched α-Brass

Abstract

Alpha-brass containing 30 wt.% Zn was quenched from a temperature near the melting point into an oil bath at various temperature ranging from 20° to 260°C and was aged in the bath. The type of secondary defects in the aged specimens was examined by transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the density of dislocation loops decreases while that of tetrahedra increases with increasing aging temperature. The result is explained in terms of the difference in the growth ability between dislocation loops and tetrahedra at the early stage of clustering of quenched-in vacancies.