Dynamics of Atomic Ordering in Bulk and Thin Film Intermetallic Alloys: A Complementary Approach to Atomic Migration

Abstract

AbstractOne of the foremost challenges in today's materials science is the design and development of materials with physical properties customized for technical application. Due to their excellent corrosion resistance and their advantageous mechanical and in many cases also magnetic properties, intermetallic alloys are among the most important materials of the 21st century. Most of their outstanding qualities are linked to long-range order, the fact that unlike atoms are preferred as neighbours, which then segregate to different sublattices. In most intermetallics atomic order persists up to rather high temperatures, if not up to melting. However, connected with the entropy gain, the degree of order depends on temperature and thereby the stability of the designed beneficial materials properties is affected. By monitoring changes in the degree of atomic order an access to atom migration is gained, which is complementary to the usual diffusion experiments, where the degree of order is not changed on average. It is shown in this review on some selected examples how an adequate thermal treatment of the samples in combination with the experimental approach gives detailed information on atom jump mechanisms and structural changes, especially if experiment is combined with up-to-date kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.