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Resolution of structural transformation of intermediates in Al–Cu alloys during non-isothermal precipitation

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Abstract

Morphological evolution and phase transformation of metastable intermediate precipitates are critical to their mechanical properties for the non-isothermal processing. During the non-isothermal precipitation, the formation of the new phases usually couples with structural evolution. Traditional structural characterization has limitation to resolve comprehensive changes simultaneously. In this study, we report direct observation, precipitation sequence, and the details of concurrent morphological and structural changes of various intermediate precipitates during non-isothermal heating in the Al–Cu systems with different pretreatments. The structural heterogeneity during the non-isothermal precipitation processes is resolved into coexistence of two different precipitate phases and quantitatively studied in terms of the phase transition and the morphological evolution. This paper presents the in situ small- and wide-angle synchrotron x-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS) to refine and to identify the mixed structural information during multiple precipitation stages. The WAXS results show that the precipitation sequence is θ″ → (θ″ + θ′) → θ′ → (θ″ + θ) → θ upon heating. Due to the fact of the specifically oriented SAXS intensity, the evolution of the aforementioned phase transformation is resolved by the refinement of the SAXS intensity integrated over the selected area. These methods reveal multiscale information that is not trivial comparing to the traditional characterization methods.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We appreciate Prof. S. Esmaeili (University of Waterloo, Canada) for providing the Al–Cu samples and useful suggestions. EWH appreciates the financial support from National Science Council (NSC) 101-2221-E-008-039-MY3 Program. MHW and SYT thank the NSC-102-3113-P-007-014 Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering & Center for Neutron Beam Applications, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan, 32001, Taiwan, Republic of China

    E-Wen Huang

  2. Nuclear Fuel and Materials Division, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Longtan, Taoyuan, 32546, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Cheng-Si Tsao

  3. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Central University, Jhongli, Taoyuan, 32001, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Ming-Hsien Wen & Shang-Yi Tu

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, 71005, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Tsung-Yuan Kuo

  5. Department of Optometry, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, 30015, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Bo-Wen Wu

  6. National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, 30077, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Chun-Jen Su & U-Ser Jeng

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  1. E-Wen Huang
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  2. Cheng-Si Tsao
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  3. Ming-Hsien Wen
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Correspondence to E-Wen Huang or Cheng-Si Tsao.

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Huang, EW., Tsao, CS., Wen, MH. et al. Resolution of structural transformation of intermediates in Al–Cu alloys during non-isothermal precipitation. Journal of Materials Research 29, 874–879 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.46

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.46

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