Quenched-in vacancies in molybdenum

Annealing experiments on quenched-in vacancies were performed with specially prepared high-purity molybdenum wire. The recovery stage was found to be centred at about 370°C, and the activation energy for the recovery was determined to be (1.62 ± 0.27) eV. The activation energy is tentatively considered to be the activation energy for the migration of single vacancies. With the activation energy, the loss of vacancies during quenching was discussed. The loss at the surface is found to be predominant. Correction for this loss was applied to the previously reported quenched-in resistivity results, and the formation energy of a vacancy was redetermined to be (3.24 ± 0.09) eV. These results are discussed in comparison with data on tungsten.