An opposite view on equilibrium vacancies in metals

Despite a significant progress in studies of point defects, no unambiguous conclusion has been found about equilibrium vacancy concentrations in metals. The objectives of the paper are as follows: (1) to recall recent experimental and theoretical results concerning equilibrium vacancy concentrations; (2) to consider the relaxation phenomena caused by the vacancy equilibration; (3) to show how the vacancy contributions to the electrical resistivity of the refractory metals can be seen from measurements under equilibrium; (4) to determine the temperature-dependent parameters of the vacancy formation and to compare them with the curvatures in the Arrhenius plots for selfdiffusion; (5) to show that the difference between the high-temperature enthalpies of W and Mo measured under equilibrium and in rapid-heating experiments may demonstrate the vacancy formation; (6) to propose a straightforward determination of the vacancy contributions to the enthalpy of metals; (7) to give a brief summary presenting an opposite view on equilibrium vacancies in metals.