Resistivity Recovery of Dilute Alloys of Silver, Copper, and Gold, Proton-Irradiated at 80°K

Abstract

Ag-Be, Ag-Li, Cu-Be, Au-Mg, and Au-Al were irradiated by 12-MeV protons at 80°K. High-resolution isochronals were then obtained from—130 to 90°C and activation energies were determined every 10°C using the change-of-slope method. The order associated with the reaction kinetics was determined at temperatures appropriate for the various annealing peaks by fitting 240-min isothermal anneals to first or second order. The recovery of the silver and copper alloys showed remarkable similarity to pure silver and copper, but the gold-alloy recovery was markedly altered as compared with pure gold. Activation energies for the stage-III defect in silver, copper, and gold alloys were found to be 0.64, 0.71, and 0.70 eV, respectively. The copper and silver alloys had a small first-order recovery stage near the low-temperature side of the main stage-III annealing peak. The main stage-III peak obeyed second-order kinetics in all cases. In the gold alloys the stage-III recovery was composed of a main second-order annealing peak with a small second-order annealing peak on each side of the main peak. These annealing results have been fitted to the various models for the recovery of damage, and some conclusions are drawn.