Revealing Solute Clusters in Coalescence by Atom Probe Tomography Analysis

Hu, Rong; Liu, Jizi; Zhang, Yidong; Sha, Gang

doi:10.1017/s1431927620024435

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 56 publications

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“…APT has equal sensitivity for all elements with an analytical sensitivity of approximately 5 atomic ppm and can reconstruct the spatial location of each atom with near-perfect lattice rectification (Marquis & Hyde, 2010; Larson et al, 2013; Stephenson et al, 2013). Consequently, these attributes make this technique well suited to reveal the early stages of clustering in light metal alloys during aging at room and elevated temperatures (Buha et al, 2007; Aruga et al, 2015; Marceau, 2016; Buchanan et al, 2017; Hu et al, 2020; Lee et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct Observation of PFIB-Induced Clustering in Precipitation-Strengthened Al Alloys by Atom Probe Tomography

et al. 2022

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The effect of sample preparation on a pre-aged Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy has been evaluated using atom probe tomography. Three methods of preparation were investigated: electropolishing (control), Ga+ focused ion beam (FIB) milling, and Xe+ plasma FIB (PFIB) milling. Ga+-based FIB preparation was shown to introduce significant amount of Ga contamination throughout the reconstructed sample (≈1.3 at%), while no Xe contamination was detected in the PFIB-prepared sample. Nevertheless, a significantly higher cluster density was observed in the Xe+ PFIB-prepared sample (≈25.0 × 1023 m−3) as compared to the traditionally produced electropolished sample (≈3.2 × 1023 m−3) and the Ga+ FIB sample (≈5.6 × 1023 m−3). Hence, the absence of the ion milling species does not necessarily mean an absence of specimen preparation defects. Specifically, the FIB and PFIB-prepared samples had more Si-rich clusters as compared to electropolished samples, which is indicative of vacancy stabilization via solute clustering.

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