A microstructural investigation has been carried out on a series of small castings of arc-melted AI-Li-Be alloys. The alloy composition included amounts of lithium up to 3wt% and beryllium up to 10 wt%. Optical metallographic examination has revealed gross macrosegregation in the highly alloyed compositions. On the microstructural level, the structure consists of primary beryllium particles in a matrix of primary aluminium containing eutectic structure at the cell walls. A detailed Auger electron spectroscopy examination has been carried out on a section of an AI-3Li-10Be arc-cast alloy to determine the precise compositional variations. This approach is demonstrated to be a necessary prerequisite for selection of material for rapid solidification processing by techniques such as splat quenching.

No abstract

No abstract