Hyperfine Interactions in the Solid State and their Role in Materials Analysis

Materials and Infrastructure Technology, CSIRO

3.30pm, Friday 28 May 2004, AR103 Seminar Room, Graduate Research Centre

A brief introduction will be given on the use of NMR in materials analysis and illustrated by recent work on Zn halides [1], Ni-based intermetallics [2] and dilute Al alloys (Al-Cu-Mg) [3]. The work uses various high-spin (I=3/2) nuclear probes, ₇Li, ₂₅Mg, ₂₇Al, _47,49Ti, ₆₁Ni, ₆₃Cu, ₆₇Zn, ₆₉Ga and ₁₁₅In, mostly positioned at sites of non-cubic symmetry, so that strong nuclear quadrupole interactions are encountered. The analysis of these interactions to give the components of the electric field gradient tensor (V_zz, h) will be given and a comparison made with the values of (V_zz, h) derived from density functional-based ab initio methods [4]. The metallurgical significance of the detection and quantification of equilibrium and non-equilibrium precipitates in dilute Al alloys will be briefly discussed.

[1] T.J. Bastow, Chem. Phys. Lett, 380, 516 (2003)
[2] T.J. Bastow and G.W. West, J. Phys:Condens. Matter, 15, 8389 (2003)
[3] T.J. Bastow and S. Celotto, Acta Materialia, 51, 4621 (2003)
[4] T.J. Bastow, M.I. Burgar, C. Maunders, Solid State Communs, 122, 629 (2002)

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