Precipitation hardening in Al–Cu–Mg alloys revisited

• Published in: Scripta materialia Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 287 - 291
• Main Authors: Wang, S.C., Starink, M.J., Gao, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Ltd 2006; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Al–Cu–Mg alloy; Applied sciences; DSC; Exact sciences and technology; Hardness; Metals. Metallurgy; Precipitate; Strengthening; TEM; Strengthening; Precipitate; Al–Cu–Mg alloy; Hardness; DSC; TEM; Differential scanning calorimetry; Precipitation; Transmission electron microscopy; Al-Cu-Mg alloy; Microstructure; Precipitation hardening; Copper alloy
• ISSN: 1359-6462; 1872-8456
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2005.09.010

Transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and hardness tests have been used to study the precipitation sequence on artificial ageing of a stretched Al–Cu–Mg alloy. The samples were aged for different times at 150 and 190 °C, respectively. Some orthorhombic GPB2/S″ is present in samples aged at 150 °C for 48 h, which is at the very start of the second stage of hardening. The combined experiments clearly show that the second stage hardening is dominated by S phase, which forms a dense precipitate structure at the peak hardness stage, whilst no significant amounts of other phases or zones are detected.