Positron annihilation study of the Mg-Zn -Y alloys with long period stacking ordered (LPSO) structures

The Mg-Zn-Y alloys with long period stacking ordered (LPSO) structures have been studied by positron annihilation lifetime (PAL), coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) and atom probe tomography (APT). The positron lifetime for all the Mg-Zn-Y alloys is in a range of 221~225 ps, very close to the positron lifetime for pure Mg bulk, 222 ps. Low temperature measurements of the positron lifetime also give no evidence for shallow positron trapping sites in the LPSO phases. The CDB shows that most of the positrons are annihilated with electrons of Mg. These results suggest that sub-nano scale open volumes, which were expected to exist in the Zn/Y enriched layers synchronized with stacking faults of the LPSO phases by the first principles calculations, are not present.