Age softening phenomenon and microscopic mechanism of Li-B alloy
(State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)
Abstract: The age softening phenomenon of the Li-B alloy was investigated by a series of tensile tests under various aging conditions. The results show that the tensile strength of the rolled Li-B alloy decreases with increasing aging time. Higher aging temperature accelerates the softening process, and leads to an early end of aging. A model was proposed to analyze the mechanism of the age softening. The vacancy annihilation is the control factor of age softening. The strength-temperature relationship was estimated by the newly proposed model and a standard heat treatment, annealing at 150 °C for 1 h, was designed to eliminate the age softening of rolled Li-B alloy.
Key words: thermal battery; Li-B alloy; age softening; lithium metal battery; lithium dendrite