Industrial applications and determination of equilibrium phase diagrams for light alloys. Progress and prospects

Abstract

The current uses of equilibrium phase diagrams and the status of their determination and implementation in the metallurgy of multicomponent light alloys are reviewed, with emphasis on industrial aluminium and titanium alloys. In addition to traditional uses of phase diagrams in the qualitative study of alloy constitution, microstructural analysis and heat treating, quantitative approaches can also be applied to process metallurgy (solidification, casting and welding), using simple analytical criteria derived from equilibrium phase diagrams as a first approximation. Progress in the methodology of determination of reliable multicomponent phase diagrams results from the combination of experimental approach (metallography, calorimetry) and thermodynamic calculation, which allows advanced alloy design.