Effect of Electric Field on Conductivity and Vickers Hardness of an Al-Li Alloy

Static electric fields were applied on aluminum-lithium alloy during solution treatment. The conductivity and Vickers hardness of the quenched Al-Li alloy is changed with the effect of electric field. The Vickers hardness increases with the applied electric field for a certain solutionizing time but decreases with the time under an electric field. In the absence of the electric field, the Vickers hardness and the conductivity increase synchronously, while reversed after electric field treatment. Positive and negative electric fields had the similar effect. The change of the local electron density in alloy caused by electric field is presented to explain the effect.