The influence of δ' precipitates on the electrical resistivity and low-field Hall coefficient of AI-Li alloys

Abstract

Measurements of the electrical resistivity in the temperature range 4.2–300 K and of the Hall coefficient at 4.2 K have been performed on an Al-Li alloy of 8 at.% Li concentration. Information on the microstructure of aged alloy were obtained from transmission electron microscopy. As the mean size of the δ' precipitates increases, the electrical resistivity at 4.2 K decreases, while the low-field Hall coefficient increases with a tendency to saturate. This behaviour can be explained qualitatively considering the anisotropic scattering of the electrons both on the δ' precipitates and the randomly distributed Li atoms in the matrix. The temperature dependence of the phonon resistivity of the aged alloy varies as T ⁿ, where 0.5< n < 3.5.