Interaction between a Vacancy and an Si, Ge or Sn Atom in Al–10wt%Zn Alloys

The changes of resistivity during isothermal aging after quenching were measured in Al–10wt%Zn–0.10wt%Si, Al–10wt%Zn–0.12wt%Ge and Al–10wt%Zn–0.01wt%Sn ternary alloys and the interactions between a vacancy and an Si: Ge or Sn atom were studied. General features of clustering in these alloys were not different from those in Al–10wt%Zn binary alloy. Therefore, the binding energy could be obtained by taking ratio of time, t M t , to reach the maximum of resistivity in ternary alloys with that time, t M b , in binary alloy. Binding energies between a vacancy and an Si, Ge or Sn atom were deduced to be about B 1 +0.10, B 1 +0.15 and B 1 +0.25 eV, respectively, where B 1 is binding energy between a vacancy and a Zn atom.