Quenched-in vacancies in noble metals—I theory of decay

Abstract

The decay laws for quenched-in vacancies in metals are calculated using two types of sink for the vacancies, i.e. stray or network dislocations and sessile rings formed by the condensation of vacancies. Annihilation at these two types of sink results in entirely different decay curves. The decay of the quenched-in resistivity in Au observed by Bauerle and Koehler is analyzed on the basis of the present theory assuming a repulsive force between two vacancies separated from each other by a few atomic distances. For quenching from above a critical temperature, it is concluded that most of the vacancies disappear at the sessile rings as divacancies; for quenching from below the critical temperature, most of the vacancies disappear at stray dislocations or dislocations in the network as single vacancies.