Part I – January 1969 - Papers - The Annealing Behavior of a Gold-Silver Alloy after Deformation at Low Temperatures

The effects of the temperature of deformation and the degvee of deformation on the annealing spectrum of a Au-Ag alloy have been determined by vesistance measurements. Specimens were deformed in torsion at 4°, 78K and room temperature up to strains nd/l of about 1.0 and were isochronally annealed. Discrete annealing stages similar to those found for pure metals were observed. Stage A occurred below room temperature; the decrease in reszstance associated with this stage increased as the temperature of deformation was lowered or the strain was increased. Stage B manifested itself as an increase in resistance; this is attributed to the restoration of short-range order promoted by vacancy or vacancy aggregate migration. At temperatures above 48S0K, recrystallization or Stage C occurred. Stages A, B, and C in the annealzng curves of this alloy may be considered to correspond to Stages II, Ill, and V, respectively, in the terminology used to describe the annealing spectrum of pure metals. ThE annealing behavior after deformation below room temperature has been thoroughly investigated on pure metals, in particular gold and copper. The occurrence of several discrete stages in the annealing spectrum of these metals has been established, but the interpretation of some of these stages in terms of specific mechanisms is still controversial.' The annealing of alloys deformed below room temperature has been the subject of only a few investigations. In the investigation reported here, a Au-Ag alloy was annealed after deformation at and below room temperature. This continues a research program on the deformation and annealing behavior of Au-Ag alloys.2-8s EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE An alloy rod of composition 82.6 wt pct Au-17.4 pct Ag was reduced to wire, 0.0428 in. diam, by swaging and drawing. After a recrystallization treatment, the grain size was 0.031 mm, as obtained from the average linear intercept.7 The ends of wires about 6 in. long were flattened and sealed into short brass tubes with cold setting cement to form the grips of the torsion specimens. The equipment used for deformation has been described elsewhere.6 The specimens were deformed at room temperature, 78", and 4°K to various strains nd/l, where n is the number of turns, d the diameter of the specimen, and 1 its length between grips. The strain rate ?max was 0.1 min-' at the sur- face of the specimen except where noted otherwise. The specimens were annealed isochronally for 30 min at intervals of approximately 30°K from the temperature of deformation to approximately 800°K, except that after deformation at 4°K the lowest annealing temperature was 78°K. A potentiometric method was used to measure the resistance: all measurements were made at 78°K with the exception of some measurements at 4°K mentioned below. Data obtained with a single specimen yielded a complete annealing curve: in several cases duplicate specimens were used to confirm the reproducibility of the curves. Since the surfaces of the specimens were rough after deformation, their diameters could not be measured accurately. The resistance increments after deformation and annealing are therefore reported as percentages of the resistance of the same specimen measured after completion of the annealing, that is, after full recrystallization. The corresponding resistivity values can be calculated by obtaining the effective diameter of a deformed specimen from the ratio of its resistance after recrystallization to the true resistivity, which was determined with a smooth specimen of known dimensions. This method of calculation was used to obtain data shown in several of the figures. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The isochronal annealing curves after deformation to various strains at 4", 78K, and room temperature are shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The resistance increment of the as-deformed specimens as a function of strain is shown in Fig. 4. For the specimens deformed at 4°K. values measured at 78°K are plotted with the exception of those for the as-deformed