Aging and Reversion in Dilute Al-Ag Alloys

Aging and reversion in dilute Al-Ag alloys are studied by means of the measurements of electrical resistivity. Results obtained are as follows: 1) Increase in the as-quenched resistivity is found for a low quenching temperature. This increase may be due to the fluctuation of solute concentration at the quenching temperature. 2) When the fluctuation exists in the alloy, the aging rate becomes slow and the maximum resistivity in the isothermal aging curve becomes small as the vacancyconcentration becomes low. The maximum resistivity becomes large again when the vacancy concentration becomes further lower, and finally the maximum does not appear. 3) These behaviors are explained in terms of the difference in the rate of growth of the G.P. zones in the regions of higher and lower solute concentration induced by the fluctuation and in terms of the change of this difference with vacancy concentration. 4) G.P. zones may be formed by the spinodal decomposition with indefinite surfaces at first, grown to larger ones with difinite surfaces and changed to ordered nzones in the alloy. 5) It is confirmed that G.P. zones are formed by the nucleation-and-growth mechanism also in Al-Ag alloys above the spinodal temperature.