Specification of Thermally and Mechanically Induced Nonequilibrium States in AuCu by the Resistivity and Magnetoresistivity

Abstract

Studies were made of the change in the resistivity and magnetoresistivity of samples of AuCu, which had been thermally disordered, while annealed at 150°C, of samples, completely disordered by cold work, while annealed at 150°C and 265°C, and of initially ordered samples when subjected to varying amounts of cold work. The curves of magnetoresistivity against resistivity for the last three cases agree with one another, but differ from that for the thermally disordered sample annealed at 150°C and from a previously obtained curve for the annealing of a thermally disordered sample at 265°C. These last two curves are also markedly different from each other. All five curves appear distinct from the previously obtained curve for AuCu in equilibrium. An interpretation of the results in terms of the production of a more or less pronounced admixture of AuCu II during certain stages of the cold working or annealing process is presented.