A computer simulation of the electrical resistivity during pre-precipitation

Abstract

A computer simulation of classical conduction electron scattering in a series of two-dimensional atomic arrays which exhibit clustering (like near neighbours) and short-range ordering (unlike near neighbours) is reported. It is found that the direction of the initial change in the residual electrical resistivity with increased order depends upon the number of conduction electrons per atom n, and that for fixed n, if the resistivity initially increases for clustering it should decrease for short-range ordering and vice versa. It is also found that if the resistivity initially increases with order, it will pass through a maximum as the size of the ordered regions approaches the conduction electron mean free path length. These results are shown to be in general agreement with theoretical predictions.