INFLUENCE OF COLD-WORK ON CLUSTERING IN AL-BE ALLOYS

Results of a resistometric investigation on the influence of deformation at −195°C on the ageing of an Al-Be 0·155% alloy show that deformation hinders Be clustering at room temperature. This effect is interpreted in terms of a strong binding energy, W, between Be and dislocations, a rough estimate giving W = 0·5 ev. Due to the existence of such a high interaction energy, Be atoms firstly migrate to dislocations on ageing after cold-work, thus lowering the strain energy of the system. Clustering of Be atoms occurs only as a subsequent step and is promoted by the removal of dislocations during polygonization. © 1969 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.