Experimental, computational and theoretical studies of δ′ phase coarsening in Al–Li alloys

Experimental characterization of microstructure evolution in three binary Al–Li alloys provides critical tests of both diffusion screening theory and multiparticle diffusion simulations, which predict late-stage phase-coarsening kinetics. Particle size distributions, growth kinetics and maximum particle sizes obtained using quantitative, centered dark-field transmission electron microscopy are compared quantitatively with theoretical and computational predictions. We also demonstrate the dependence on δ′ precipitate volume fraction of the rate constant for coarsening and the microstructure’s maximum particle size, both of which remained undetermined for this alloy system for nearly a half century. Our experiments show quantitatively that the diffusion-screening theoretical description of phase coarsening yields reasonable kinetic predictions, and that useful simulations of microstructure evolution are obtained via multiparticle diffusion. The tested theory and simulation method will provide useful tools for future design of two-phase alloys for elevated temperature applications.