Effect of sulphur content and pre-annealing treatments on nickel grain-boundary diffusion in high-purity copper

• Published in: Philosophical magazine. A, Physics of condensed matter. Defects and mechanical properties Vol. 80; no. 5; pp. 1075 - 1083
• Main Authors: Tôkei, Zs, Erdélyi, Z., Girardeaux, Ch, Rolland, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Taylor & Francis Group 01.05.2000; Taylor and Francis; Informa UK (Taylor & Francis)
• Subjects: Condensed Matter; Materials Science; Physics
• ISSN: 0141-8610; 1460-6992
• DOI: 10.1080/01418610008212101

Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and radiotracers were used to study the effects of pre-annealing treatments and grain boundary migration on nickel grain-boundary diffusion in pure 5N copper at 718 K in the B-kinetic regime. The diffusion penetration profiles are complex, which can be interpreted by the copresence of stationary and moving grain boundaries. Attempts to emphasize the grain-boundary migration effect were made by the application of different preannealing treatments before diffusion. It was shown by AES that this preparation procedure induces a modification in the bulk sulphur content which is a residual impurity in 5N copper. It is shown that a few ppm of sulphur dissolved in the bulk has a pronounced influence on the data; the higher the sulphur content, the lower the triple-product and the grain-boundary migration velocity.