The behavior of vacancies was investigated by performing electrical resistivity measurements during isothermal annealing. The relaxation times of vacancies, and short-range order formation under the influence of thermal and quenched-in vacancies, were determined. It was found that the lifetimes of vacancies were comparable to the relaxation times of short-range order formation. The results showed that vacancy annihilation obeyed first-order kinetics. The activation enthalpies for vacancy annihilation, formation,

migration and self-diffusion were determined from the relaxation times. The values of these parameters were found to be self-consistent and to agree quite well with the values predicted by theory.

The Kinetics of Vacancy Annihilation in the Ternary Au25Ag25Pd50 Alloy. B.Ziya, M.I.Ansari, A.A.Al-Aql: Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2002, 337[1-2], 108-14