The activation energies for the nucleation of silver-rich precipitates and for the diffusion of silver in copper, in the Cu-2 wt.%Al alloy with additions of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 wt.%Ag, were estimated by microhardness changes measurements with the temperature and time. The results indicated that the used method allows to obtain values for the activation energy for nucleation of the silver-rich phase and for the diffusion of silver in copper close to those found in the literature.
activation energy; nucleation; diffusion; microhardness; silver additions; copper-based alloys
