Positron Annihilation Study on the Microstructural Stability in Rapidly Solidified Al_(92.3)Fe_(4.3)V_(0.7)Si_(1.7)Mm_(1.0) Alloy

Rapidly solidified Al92.3Fe4.3V0.7Si1.7Mm1.0 alloy has been studied by positron lifetime spectroscopy and the variations on the intedecial defects with the annealing temperature were revealed by an analysis of the lifetime results. The intedece characteristics derived from the positron-lifetime results could be used to give a satisfactory interpretation of the dependence of mechanical properties on the annealing temperature

POSITRON ANNIHILATION AND CONDUCTIVITY MEASUREMENTS ON POLYANILINE

The positron lifetime spectra and electrical conductivities have been measured for polyaniline as a function of protonation level ([H+] from 10-7-1000.8 mol/L). Weobserved that (1) the short lifetime τ1, which was related to electron density in bulk,decreased with the protonation level; (2) the intermediate lifetime τ2≈360ps, almost remaining constant, whereas its intensity I2 increased with increasing protonation level which was related to the conductivity of material. These results are discussed in terms of conducting island model.

Evolution of native point defects in ZnO bulk probed by positron annihilation spectroscopy

This paper studies the evolution of native point defects with temperature in ZnO single crystals by positron lifetime and coincidence Doppler broadening （CDB） spectroscopy, combined with the calculated results of positron lifetime and electron momentum distribution. The calculated and experimental results of the positron lifetime in ZnO bulk ensure the presence of zinc monovacancy, and zinc monovacancy concentration begins to decrease above 600 ℃ annealing treatment. CDB is an effective method to distinguish the elemental species, here we combine this technique with calculated electron momentum distribution to determine the oxygen vacancies, which do not trap positrons due to their positive charge. The CDB spectra show that oxygen vacancies do not appear until 600℃ annealing treatment, and increase with the increase of annealing temperature. This study supports the idea that green luminescence has a close relation with oxygen vacancies.

Positron Annihilation Study on TiC Powders

By means of the positron annihilation technique (PAT), superfine TiC powders obtained by ball-milling process were characterized. The results showed that there was a clear correlation between the change in TiC powders and that in the PAT parameters. In the high energy ball-milling process, TiC powders were severely deformed, which caused large increase in the amount of defects and severe distortion of lattice. On the other hand, the extreme refinement of grain size of powders resulted in the increase of grain boundary area and enhancement of system free energy. The spacing between deformed domains in 96 h milled samples is somewhat smaller than those in 48 h milled samples, indicating the size of Type II defects in 96 h milled samples is somewhat smaller than that in 48 h milled samples.

Comparison of the Free Volume of LiCl-Added SPPO Membrane and SPPO-PES Blend Membrane by Positron Annihilation Method

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy （PALS） is a powerful technique for the study of free volume in polymers. The lifetime of ortho-positronium （o-Ps）, a bound state of an electron and a positron, can be used to assess the pore size, while the intensity can be used to characterize the number of pores. Based on the values of the long-lived o-Ps components in the lifetime spectra, the radii and fractional free volumes of sulfonated poly （2,6-dimethyl-1,4- phenyleneoxide） （SPPO） membranes with added LiCl and SPPO-PES （Polyethersulfone） blend were compared. Free volume radii in both kinds of membranes are discussed.

Synthesis, Growing Processes and Physical Properties of CdS Nanoclusters in Y-Zeolite Studied by Positron Annihilation

Direct synthesis of CdS nanoclusters within the pore structure of Y zeolite was made. The location of CdS nanoclusters inside Y zeolite hosts was confirmed by the blue-shifted reflection absorption spectra with respected to that of bulk CdS materials. In this paper, we conducted Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectrum (PALS) measurements on a series of CdS/Y zeolite samples and concluded that CdS clusters were not located in supercages but in smaller sodalite cages; as the CdS loading concentration increases to 5 wt%, the discrete CdS cubes begin to form bigger superclusters through interaction. The stability of CdS clusters inside the sodalite units is due to the coordination of Cd atoms with the framework oxygen atoms of the double six-ring windows. Moreover, PALS reveals some important information of surface states existing on the interfacial layers between CdS clusters and Y zeolite.

INVESTIGATION OF BEHAVIOUR OF B IN Ni_3Al ALLOYS BY POSITRON ANNIHILATION TECHNIQUE

The behuviour of B atoms added to mono-and poly-crystalline Ni_3AI alloys has been investi- gated hy positron annihilation technique(PA T).If the additive of B was less than 1.37 at-%, some of B atoms solid-solutioned interstitially into matrix and distorted the lattice,thus the lifetime (τ) of positron (e^+) Or matrix dilated:the others of them segregated on vacancy-like defects and formed "filling effect",thus the mean lifetime (τ)and S parameters decreased.If B added was increased up to 2.22 at-%,more defects having larger free volume were induced by horide eutectic occurred along grain boundaries and grain interior,thus the τ in vacancy-like defects.τ and S parameters increased remarkably.

Investigation of SPPO Membranes by Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy （PALS） is a powerful technique to study the free volume in polymers. The lifetime of ortho-positronium （o-Ps）, a bound state of an electron and a positron, can be used to assess the pore size while the intensity can be used to characterize the number of pores. On the basis of the values of the long-lived o-Ps components in the lifetime spectra, the radii and fractional free volumes in the sulfonated poly （2,6-dimethyl-1,4- phenyleneoxide） （SPPO） membranes with different amounts of LiCl were calculated. It was found that, with the increasing amount of LiCl, the free volume radius and the fractional free volume firstly increased and then decreased. After immersing the membranes in distilled water, the free volume radius and the fractional free volume changed with different water concentrations in the membrane.

Evidence of Positron Trapping into Defects in Zn-Doped GaAs

The defect properties in as-grown and deformed p-type GaAs with different concentration of dopants and different growth method have investigated by positron lifetime measurement. The result indicates that no positron trapping was observed in LEC-grown Zn-doped p-type GaAs. However, in HB- and FZ-grown Zn-doped GaAs, positron trapping into vacancy type defects was observed. In deformed samples, clusters were formed during deformation. Positron detected shallow positron traps and the dominant shallow positron traps were attributed to Zn acceptors in Zn-doped GaAs.

STUDY OF RECOVERY IN DEFORMED Ni-Cr-Co SUPERALLOYS USING POSITRON ANNIHILATION

The recovery recrystallization of 3 deformed Ni-Cr-Co superalloys with different Co con- tents has been studied using positron annihilation technique and TEM.The alloys with low Co content have more defects occurred than ones with high Co content,and the former may be faster in dislocation recovery than the latter.Thus,the apparent activation energy of recrystallization increases with the increase of their Co content in alloys.The relationship be- tween apparent activation energy and stacking fault energy together with their effect on re- covery were also discussed.

A Review of Studies of Polymeric Membranes by Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy

A review is presented of studies of polymeric membranes by applying positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy （PALS）. PALS has been used to study subnanometer-sized holes, to determine their size distribution and free-volume fractions, and to probe molecular-sized vacancies in glassy polymers. At present, PALS is believed to be a highly effective physical method for the examination of polymeric membranes.

Characterization,spectroscopic investigation of defects by positron annihilation,and possible application of synthesized PbO nanoparticles

Nanocrystalline samples of highly pure lead oxide were prepared by the sol-gel route of synthesis.X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic techniques confirmed the nanocrystallinity of the samples,and the average sizes of the crystallites were found within 20 nm to 35 nm.The nanocrystallites exhibited specific anomalous properties,among which a prominent one is the increased lattice parameters and unit cell volumes.The optical band gaps also increased when the nanocrystallites became smaller in size.The latter aspect is attributable to the onset of quantum confinement effects,as seen in a few other metal oxide nanoparticles.Positron annihilation was employed to study the vacancy type defects,which were abundant in the samples and played crucial roles in modulating their properties.The defect concentrations were significantly larger in the samples of smaller crystallite sizes.The results suggested the feasibility of tailoring the properties of lead oxide nanocrystallites for technological applications,such as using lead oxide nanoparticles in batteries for better performance in discharge rate and resistance.It also provided the physical insight into the structural build-up process when crystallites were formed with a finite number of atoms,whose distributions were governed by the site stabilization energy.

Free Volume Properties of Interpenetrating Polymer Networks Probed by Positron Annihilation

Positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) spectroscopy was applied to investigate the free volume properties of two types of simultaneous interpenetrating polymer networks (SINs), stoichiometric SINs and non--stoichiometric SINs. PU/VER SINs are all composed of polyurethane(PU) and vinyl ester resin (VER)with different compositions. Mean free volume size in PU/VER deceased with the increase of VER weight percentage, and the relative intensity, relevant to free volume content, increased with VER contents. The effect of chemical bonds between PU networks and VER networks to free volume properties was observed. Results revealed that chemical bonds between the two networks led to molecular denser packing, free volume contraction and made stoichoimetric PU/VER SINs a miscible system.

Defect Characterization of 6H-SiC Studied by Slow Positron Beam

The defect formation and annealing behavior in as-grown and electron-irradiated 6H-SiC wafers were investigated by variable-energy slow positron beam. For the n-type as-grown samples, it was found that annealing decreased the defect concentration due to recombination with interstitial, and when it was annealed at 1400 ℃ for 30 rain in vacuum, a 20 nm thick Si layer was found on the top of SiC substrate, which is a direct proof of the Si atom diffusing to the surface when annealed at the high temperature stages. During the high temperature annealing stage, we found an obvious surface effect occurred that induced the higher S parameter close to the surface. This may be caused by the diffusion of the Si atoms to the surface during annealing. After 10 MeV electron irradiation of the n-type 6H-SiC, the positron effective diffusion length decreased from 86.2 nm to 39.1 nm. This shows that there are some defects created in n-type 6H-SiC. But in the p-type 6H-SiC irradiated by 10 MeV electrons, the change is very small. This may be because of the opposite charge of the vacancy defects. The same annealing behavior as that of as-grown 6H-SiC samples was also observed for the 1.8 MeV electron-irradiated 6H-SiC samples except that after being annealed at 300 ℃, its defect concentration increased. This may be explained as the generation of carbon vacancies, due to either the recombination between divacancies and silicon interstitial, or the charge of the charge states.

Photocatalytic Oxidation Property of LaFe_(1-y)Cu_yO_3 and Study on Positron Annihilation

Pervoskite-type oxides LaFe_ 1-yCu_yO_3 was prepared by citrate method. Using a fluorescent Hg lamp as irradiator, the degradation experiments of acid red 3B were carried out in the suspension system of LaFe_ 1-yCu_yO_3. The results show that the doped oxides LaFe_ 1-yCu_yO_3 have good photocatalytic oxidation property. With the study of positron annihilation, its photocatalytic activity is mainly related with defect structures resulted by doping.

Identification of the pressure-induced phase transition of ZnSe with the positron annihilation method

This paper studies the pressure-induced phase transition between zincblende （B3） and NaC1 （B1） structure ZnSe by using the hydrostatic pressure first-principles pseudopotential plane wave method. The energy-volume and enthalpy- pressure curves are employed to estimate the transition pressure. It is found that ZnSe undergoes a first-order phase transition from the B3 structure to the B1 structure at approximately 15 GPa derived from the energy-volume relation and 14 GPa based on deduction from enthalpy pressure data. The pressure-related positron bulk lifetimes of the two ZnSe structures are calculated with the atomic superposition approximation method. In comparison with the 13.4% reduction in volume of ZnSe at the transition pressure, the positron bulk lifetime decreases more significantly and the relative value declines up to 22.3%. The results show that positron annihilation is an effective technique to identify and characterize the first-order phase transition and can give valuable information about changes in micro-scale, such as volume shrinkage and compressibility.

Effect of vacancy charge state on positron annihilation in silicon

The charge-state-dependent lattice relaxation of mono-vacancy in silicon is studied using the first-principles pseu- dopotential plane-wave method. We observe that the structural relaxation for the first-neighbor atoms of the mono-vacancy is strongly dependent on its charge state. The difference in total electron density between with and without charge states in mono-vacancy and its relevant change due to the localized positron are also examined by means of first-principles simu- lation, demonstrating the strong interplay between positron and electron. Our calculations reveal that the positron lifetime decreases with absolute charge value increasing.

Dislocation Densites of Deformed Steel Sheets Based on Positron Annihilation

The variation regularity of dislocation densites of some deformed steel sheets under three kinds of strainpaths as uniaxial tension, plane strain and equal biaxial stretching was investigated by means of positron lifetimespectrum and Doppler-broadening techniques. The results show that the increasing rate of dislocation densites isrelated to the plastic strain path. A relationship between the increasing rate of micro-defects, macro-instability andforming limits during the process of steel sheet forming was got based on analyzing the mechanism of dislocationdensity increasing under different stress-strain condihons.

Gas Permeability and Free Volume Hole Properties of Interpenetrating Polymer Network Studied by Positrons

A series of polyurethane/epoxy resin interpenetrating polymer networks （PU/ER IPN） were studied by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy （PALS）. The effects of epoxy resin type and content on the free volume properties in IPN were investigated. We found that in PU/ER IPN, the free volume hole size and fractional free volume showed a negative deviation due to closer segmental chain packing through some chemical bonding between PU and epoxy resin. Direct relationship between the gas permeability and the free volume has been established based on the free volume theory. Experimental results revealed that the free volume plays an important role in determining the gas diffusion and permeability.

Theoretical study on the positron annihilation in Rocksalt structured magnesium oxide

Based on the atomic superposition approximation （ATSUP） and first-principles pseudopotential plane-wave methods, the bulk and Mg mono-vacancy positron lifetime of magnesium oxide were calculated using Arponen-Pajamme and Borofiski-Nieminen positron-annihilation-rate interpolation formula respectively. The calculated values are in good agreement with experimental values and the first-principles method gives more convincing results. The positron annihilation density spectra analysis reveals that positrons mainly annihilate with valence electrons of oxygen atoms when the magnesium-vacancy appears within magnesium oxide.