Determination of the activation energy in a cast aluminium alloy by TEM and DSC

The precipitation behaviour and microstructure development of the A319 alloy during ageing were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM and STEM). During T5 treatment, θ′ precipitates with an average size of about 18 nm were observed by TEM. The precipitate sizes increased with ageing temperature and attained an average size of 107 nm. In addition, there was a linear relationship between precipitate growth temperature and the cube of the precipitate size. This indicates that precipitate growth of the A319 alloy belongs to a thermal activated process of the Arrhenius type. The activation energy for the precipitate growth was calculated to be 140.4 ± 13.3 kJ/mol. However, under continuous heating conditions, the activation energy for the precipitate growth obtained by Kissinger plot was determined to be 119.5 ± 8.3 kJ/mol. Allowing for experimental error, both values are comparable and are related to the diffusion of Cu and/or Si in Al.