Diffusion of copper in nanocrystalline Al-7.8 at %Ti-0.3 at %Fe alloy prepared by mechanical alloying

Abstract

The powder of supersaturated solid solution of Al-7.8 at % Ti-0.3 at % Fe with a nanocrystalline structure was prepared by mechanical alloying, and it was compacted to columnar shape material at low temperature by application of high pressure of 3 GPa. Diffusion of copper was studied in this compacted nanocrystalline material using an ion mass microanalyzer. The interfacial diffusion coefficient of copper in the nanocrystalline materials is fairly higher than the volume diffusion coefficient of copper in aluminum, and the activation energy of the interfacial diffusion is quite small when compared with that of volume diffusion of copper in aluminum. The characteristic of the interfacial diffusion implies that the interface in the nanocrystalline materials of this research should have a very loose structure.