Vacancy-solute interactions in Al-Cu-Mg

This is an initial report of a multi-technique study on the effect of Mg alloying on solute-vacancy interactions during the early stages of ageing of dilute 2xxx Al-Cu-Mg alloys so as to better understand the early rapid hardening (RH) that occurs in certain compositions of these alloys and the more general phenomena of secondary hardening (SH) at ambient temperatures. Therefore, RH at 150 °C and SH at room temperature from the as-quenched condition and after and 60 sec ageing at 150 °C were studied in Al-1.1 Cu and Al-1.1 Cu-0.5Mg (at. %) variously by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) spectroscopy and atom probe tomography (APT) and monitored by Vickers hardness measurements. The present results indicate that Cu-Cu, Mg-Mg and Cu-Mg clusters are formed in the ternary alloy already in the asquenched state and that they persist during ageing at 150 °C. The fraction of the solutes Cu and Mg that were associated with vacancies after ageing was increased 10-fold and double, respectively and the strength of the Cu clustering is enhanced greatly after 60 sec at 150 °C.