  With an ongoing discussion on the oxygen diffusion along crystal defects
remaining, it is difficult to study this phenomenon in Al containing
intermetallic materials due to its rapid and passivating oxide formation. We
report here the observation of enhanced oxygen diffusion along crystal defects,
i.e. dislocations and twin boundaries, in the C15 Al 2 Ca Laves phase and how
the presence of oxygen induces structural changes at these defects. Three main
phases were identified and characterized structurally by aberration-corrected,
atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, analytically by
energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy.
Unlike the C15 bulk phase, the twin boundary and dislocation transformed into a
few nanometer wide amorphous phase, which depletes in Al and Ca but is highly
enriched in oxygen. The dislocation even shows coexistence of the amorphous
phase with a simple Al-rich A1 fcc phase. This A1 phase only depletes in Ca,
not in Al (Al remains at bulk concentration), and is also enriched in oxygen.
The Al-rich A1 phase is coherent with the C15 matrix. Electron energy loss
spectroscopy revealed the amorphous phase to be Al 2 O 3 . We thereby show as
one of the first studies that oxygen diffusion along crystal defects,
especially also at the twin boundary can induce the formation of an amorphous
oxide along themselves. The identification of oxygen-induced transformation at
strained defects has to be considered when the material is exposed to air
during plastic deformation at elevated temperatures.
