TERNARY ATOM SITE LOCATION IN LI-2-STRUCTURED INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS

Ternary sublattice site occupancy in two L1(2)-structured intermetallic compounds were evaluated by a transmission electron microscope technique called ALCHEMI, or atom site location by channeling enhanced microanalysis, and by x-ray diffractometry, through measuring the relative integrated intensity of fundamental and superlattice x-ray diffraction peaks. The x-ray diffractometry showed that in nickel-rich Ni3Al + Hf hafnium was found to occupy preferentially the aluminum sublattice, and in a multiphase alloy an L1(2)-structured phase with the composition Al74.2Ti19Ni6.8 nickel atoms showed a strong preference for the titanium sublattice. The ALCHEMI data broadly agreed with the x-ray results for Ni3Al but gave completely the opposite result, i.e., a preference of nickel for the titanium sublattice, for Al3Ti. The methods of ALCHEMI and x-ray diffractometry are compared, and it is concluded that ALCHEMI data may be easily convoluted by peak overlap and delocalization effects.