Positron annihilation spectroscopy for heat-treated Fe-Ga alloys and their defect structure

TL;DR

This study uses positron annihilation spectroscopy to analyze defect structures in heat-treated Fe-Ga alloys, revealing how annealing influences vacancy concentrations and correlates with their physical properties.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the defect structures of Fe-Ga alloys during heat treatment using positron annihilation spectroscopy, linking vacancy defects to physical property changes.

Findings

Vacancy concentrations vary with annealing temperature.

Positron annihilation parameters differ between bulk and defect sites.

Defect structures correlate with magnetic and mechanical properties.

Abstract

We present the results of lifetime positron annihilation spectroscopy (PALS) for the alloys Fe21Ga and Fe22.4Ga, whose defect structure is connected with annealing from 20 to 1000C along the phase diagram of Fe21Ga and Fe22.4Ga, at the L12-A2 transitions and in the sub-lattice of the D03 phase. In frames of the standard trapping model, we estimate the positron annihilation parameters for the bulk metal and for the different thermal vacancies herein. Also we define concentrations of these vacancy defects, which may be helpful for explanation of the physical properties of Ge-Ga alloys, including giant softening and extremal $\lambda_{100}$ at the given inter-metallic composition.