Double-atomic-wall-based dynamic precipitates of the early-stage S-phase in AlCuMg alloys

Developments of high-strength aluminum alloys have always faced a difficult problem: owing to their small size, the early-stage strengthening precipitates are difficult to characterize in terms of composition, structure and evolution. Even for the widely used AlCuMg alloys, in which the phenomenon of precipitation hardening in metals was first discovered by Wilm more than a century ago, the essential questions remain: how many different precursors exist for the most effective strengthening precipitates (referred to S-phase), and how do they transform to the S-phase? Here we employ atomic-resolution electron microscopy imaging and first-principles energy calculations to address these problems. Our study demonstrates that the early-stage S-phase precipitates are highly dynamic in both composition and structure. Having their own genetic double Cu–Mg atomic walls to guide their evolution, these dynamic precipitates initiate, mature and grow with thermal aging following three evolution paths, leading to the S-phase precipitates formed, without exception, with even numbers of Cu–Mg atomic layers.