Cluster strengthening in aluminium alloys

We consider the elastic effect of clusters and propose a size misfit strengthening model. Our approach is similar to solute strengthening, where the size misfit of clusters is assumed to be the sum of elementary atomic misfits. The proposed model is compared to the coherency strengthening model, and the results indicate that our model is applicable to clusters ∼<1 nm in diameter. The prediction of the model is reasonably consistent with the reported experiments of aluminium alloys.