Application of Hrem in Studying Amorphisation of Intermetallic Compounds

Abstract

ABSTRACTElectron irradiation induces many intermetallic compounds to become amorphous. As this irradiation is capable of producing only isolatedpoint defects for each collision event, an understanding of this amorphisation proqess has a special significance with respect to the understanding of amorphous materials. This paper will report the results of HREM observations of an intermetallic compound in the Cu-Ti alloy system. High resolution micrographs will be presented to demonstrate that the energy associated with the irradiation induced chemical disordering is the major driving force in the amorphisation process. Also, the utility of the HREM in the study of amorphisation and the amorphous structure will be discussed.