Segregation Study of the β phase on the Al–Li Alloy Surface using Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Auger Electron spectroscopy (AES) has been used to study lithium segregation on Al-3.49wt%-Li alloy surface. In this work, the surface atomic composition as a function of temperature was followed. In our previous works, the activation energy of Li segregation has been determined experimentally being in agreement with the resulted theoretical value. In this paper, one showed that the segregation energy of Li on the surface depends of the crystalline structure and of the Li content in the Al-Li alloy matrix. β-AlLi phase on the alloy surface, used in the power sources for the propulsion of electrical vehicles and for stocking energy, is obtained by progressive heating. We showed that the segregated lithium on the alloy surface is reversible as a function of decreasing temperature and consequently β-AlLi phase is converted in α-AlLi phase. On the other hand, the brutal heating of the sample drives to the conversion of the α-AlLi phase to β-AlLi phase and stabilizes the surface towards other segregation; therefore the conversion of β-AlLi phase to α-AlLi phase is irreversible.