Microdiffraction analysis of precipitate crystallography and morphology in Al alloys

Abstract

Electron microdiffraction has been used to determine the crystallography of precipitation in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag and Al-Ge alloys for individual precipitates with dimensions down to 10 nm. The crystallography has been related to the morphology of the precipitates using an analysis based on the intersection point symmetry. This analysis requires that the precipitate form be consistent with the intersection point group, defined as those point symmetry elements common to precipitate and matrix crystals when the precipitate crystal is in its observed orientation relationship with the matrix.In Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys with high Cu:Mg ratios and containing trace amounts of silver, a phase designated Ω readily precipitates as thin, hexagonal-shaped plates on matrix {111}α planes. Examples of these precipitates are shown in Fig. 1. The structure of this phase has been the subject of some controversy. An SAED pattern, Fig. 2, recorded from matrix and precipitates parallel to a <11l>α axis is suggestive of hexagonal symmetry and a hexagonal lattice has been proposed on the basis of such patterns.