Electron crystallography of aluminum alloy phases

Abstract

Abstract A series of structure analyses during 1994-2001 by electron crystallographic techniques applied to phases in aluminum alloys are reviewed. Methods for structure solution employ electron diffraction intensity data collected by the precession technique, by selected area micro-diffraction and by the convergent-beam technique. High-resolution electron microscope images (HRTEM) are treated by different kind of processing, including exit wave reconstruction. Crystallographic calculations are performed either by direct method or Patterson and Fourier procedures, assuming kinematical scattering, or by refinement from models derived from HRTEM images. Dynamical scattering calculations can be introduced in the refinement stage or as a correction procedure applied to part of the intensity data. The phases studied include primary Al-Fe-(Si) particles, Al-Mn-Si dispersoids, Al-Co quasicrystals and two types of precipitate phases in age-hardening Al-Mg-Si and Al-Zn-Mg alloys.