Analysis of modulus hardening in an artificial aged Al-Cu-Mg alloy by atom probe tomography

The individual contribution of different Cu-Mg co-clusters by modulus hardening to age-hardening response of an Al-Cu-Mg alloy at 170 °C is evaluated based on Vickers hardness measurements and quantitative atom probe tomography analysis. The present results show that it is order hardening of large Cu-Mg co-clusters or GPB zones rather than modulus hardening significantly contributes to the second stage of hardening. Despite prolonged aging from 5 min to 8 h leads to a noticeable change in the number density and the volume fraction of different Cu-Mg co-clusters, interestingly, the total critical shear stress of Cu-Mg co-clusters by modulus hardening fluctuates slightly, indicating the modulus hardening effect almost keeps unchanged at the hardness plateau. Besides, the shear modulus of Cu-Mg co-clusters is found to remain constant as aging prolongs at 170 °C.