By using a rate equation for vacancy loss, and an overall rate constant for ordering, a model was developed which predicted the effect of quench temperature, quench rate and vacancy sink density. The model permitted the calculation of the degree of retained short-range order in quenched binary alloys, and predicted that the most highly disordered state that was obtainable would be the result of quenching from intermediate temperatures. Numerical results were checked against experimental data that were based upon an analysis of a differential scanning calorimetric study of ordering towards an equilibrium state. Analysis of these traces yielded experimental estimates for the quenched-in vacancy concentrations. Good agreement between theory and experiment was found for Cu-30at%Zn.

A.Varschavsky, E.Donoso: Materials Science and Engineering A, 1996, 212[2], 265-72