Abstract
This paper studies the effect of Ce on the thermal stability of the Ω phase in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy by TEM and tensile testing. It has been shown that Ce substantially increases the nucleation density of the Ω phase by acting as the heterogeneous nucleation center. Most importantly, Ce improves the thermal stability of the Ω phase by decreasing the diffusion velocity of Cu atoms and increasing the energy barrier of the thickening ledge nucleation, thus improving the strength of the Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy at both room- and elevated-temperatures.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Polmear I.J. and Couple M.J., Design development of an experimental wrought aluminum alloy for use at elevated temperatures, Metall. Trans. A, 1988, 19: 1027.
Polmear I.J., The effects of small additions of silver on the aging of some aluminum alloy, Trans. Met. Soc. AJME, 1964, 230: 1331.
Gable B.M., Shiflet G.J., and Starke E.A. Jr, Alloy development for the enhanced stability of Ω precipitates in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 2006, 37: 1091.
Muddle B.C. and Polmear I.J., The precipitate Ω phase in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Acta Metall. Mater., 1989, 37: 777.
Reich L., Murayama M., and Hono K., Evolution of Ω phase in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy—A three dimensional atom probe study, Acta Mater., 1998, 46: 6053.
Kerry S. and Scott V.D., Structure and orientation relation of precipitates formed in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Met. Sci., 1984, 18: 289.
Auld J.H., Structure of metastable precipitate in Some Al-Cu-Mg-Ag Alloys, Mater. Sci. Technol., 1986, 2: 784.
Scott V.D., Kerry S., and Trumper R.L., Nucleation and growth of precipitates in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Mater. Sci. Technol., 1987, 3: 827.
Garg A. and Howe J.M., Convergent-beam electron diffraction analysis of the Ω phase in an Al-4.0Cu-0.5Mg-0.5Ag alloy, Acta Metall. Mater., 1991, 39: 1939.
Knowles K.M. and Stobbs W.M., The structure of {111} age-hardening precipitates in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Acta Crystallogr. B, 1988, 44: 207.
Chester R.J. and Polmear I.J., The Metallurgy of Light Metals, Institute of Metals, London, England, 1983: 69–75.
Xiao D.H., Wang J.N., Ding D.Y., and Yang H.L., Effect of rare earth Ce addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy, J. Alloys Compd., 2003, 352: 84.
Song M., Chen K., and Huang L., Effects of Ce and Ti on the microstructures and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy, Rare Met., 2007, 26: 28.
Song M. and Xiao D.H., Effects of Mg and Ag elements on the aging precipitation of binary Al-Cu alloy, Sci. China Ser. E, 2006, 49: 582.
Zhu A., Starke E.A. Jr, and Shiflet G.J., An FP-CVM calculation of pre-precipitation clustering in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Scripta Mater., 2005, 53: 35.
Song M., Chen K., and Huang L., Precipitation and growth dynamics of precipitates in Al-Cu-Mg-(Ag) alloy during aging, Chin. J. Nonferrous Met. (in Chinese), 2006, 16: 1313.
Hutchinson C.R., Fan X., Pennycook S.J., and Shiflet G.J., On the origin of the high coarsening resistance of Ω plates in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys, Acta Metall., 2001, 49: 2827.
Lumley R.N. and Polmear I.J., Enhanced creep performance in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy through underageing, Acta Mater., 2002, 50: 3597.
Xiao D.H., Chen K.H., and Song M., Effect of cerium addition on precipitation and microstructure of Al-Cu-Mg-Mn-Ag alloys, Chin. J. Nonferrous Met. (in Chinese), 2007, 17: 669.
Xiao D.H., Wang J.N., and Ding D.Y., Effects of minor Ce addition on the feat resistance of as-cast AlCuMgAg alloy, Spec. Cast. Nonferrous Alloys (in Chinese), 2004, 24: 20.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Song, M., Xiao, D. & Zhang, F. Effect of Ce on the thermal stability of the Ω phase in an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy. Rare Metals 28, 156–159 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-009-0031-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-009-0031-5