Influence of a microalloying addition of Ag on the precipitation kinetics of an Al–Cu–Mg alloy with high Mg:Cu ratio

Solute-vacancy clustering in aluminum

“…accelerate or decelerate precipitation kinetics [4,33,[38][39][40], select the type of precipitates that form [5,41,42] and, be strengtheners themselves [2,[43][44][45][46]. Some examples that do not belong to any of these four categories, but underscore the importance of vacancies in stabilizing solute clusters, are also discussed.…”

“…Solute clusters constitute the fundamental building blocks of precipitation and age-hardening in aluminum alloys [1][2][3][4][5][6]. A few examples for various aluminum alloys follow: Cu-Mg solute clusters cause rapid hardening during the aging of Al-Cu-Mg alloys [2].…”

“…Mg-Si solute clusters that form during room temperature natural aging in Al-Mg-Si alloys can either decrease or increase the kinetics of precipitation depending on the aging temperature [4]. Solute cluster chemistry is reported to alter the type of precipitates that form in Al-Cu-Mg alloys [5].…”

“…Microalloying with Ag in Al-Cu-Mg alloys favors precipitation of the cubic Z phase over the S phase (Al2CuMg) [5].…”

“…These observations highlight the importance of solute-vacancy interaction in the formation of solute clusters. Solute clusters are experimentally observed directly by atom probe tomography [6,[11][12][13][14][15][16] and vacancy clusters are studied indirectly by positron annihilation spectroscopy [5,[17][18][19].…”