In the slightly deformed Al-Mg-Si alloys,dislocation-induced precipitates are frequently observed,and they usually line up,forming sophisticated precipitation microstructures.Using atomic-resolution electron microscop...In the slightly deformed Al-Mg-Si alloys,dislocation-induced precipitates are frequently observed,and they usually line up,forming sophisticated precipitation microstructures.Using atomic-resolution electron microscopy in association with hardness measurements,we systematically investigated these precipitates in relation to the age-hardening responses of the alloys.Our study reveals that the majority of dislocation-induced complex precipitates are actually short-range ordered while long-range disordered polycrystalline precipitates and multiphase composite precipitates,including polycrystalline U2 precipitates,B’/U2,B’-2/U2,B’/B’-2/U2 and’/U2 composite precipitates.It is suggested that the formation of these complex precipitates is mainly owing to a high nucleation rate and rapid growth of different precipitate phases parallel to the associated dislocation lines.Since dislocation-induced precipitates consume more Mg than Si from the matrix and have a high formation kinetics,they will have different impacts on the matrix precipitation in different types of Al-Mg-Si alloys.Our results further demonstrate that for the"normally-β"-hardened"alloy,their formation leads to a coarser precipitate microstructure in the matrix,whereas for the"normally-β’-hardened"alloy,their formation reverses the precipitation pathway in the matrix,resulting in a reduced age-hardening potential of the former alloy and an improved age-hardening potential of the latter alloy.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2016YFB0300801)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51831004,11427806,51671082,51471067).
文摘In the slightly deformed Al-Mg-Si alloys,dislocation-induced precipitates are frequently observed,and they usually line up,forming sophisticated precipitation microstructures.Using atomic-resolution electron microscopy in association with hardness measurements,we systematically investigated these precipitates in relation to the age-hardening responses of the alloys.Our study reveals that the majority of dislocation-induced complex precipitates are actually short-range ordered while long-range disordered polycrystalline precipitates and multiphase composite precipitates,including polycrystalline U2 precipitates,B’/U2,B’-2/U2,B’/B’-2/U2 and’/U2 composite precipitates.It is suggested that the formation of these complex precipitates is mainly owing to a high nucleation rate and rapid growth of different precipitate phases parallel to the associated dislocation lines.Since dislocation-induced precipitates consume more Mg than Si from the matrix and have a high formation kinetics,they will have different impacts on the matrix precipitation in different types of Al-Mg-Si alloys.Our results further demonstrate that for the"normally-β"-hardened"alloy,their formation leads to a coarser precipitate microstructure in the matrix,whereas for the"normally-β’-hardened"alloy,their formation reverses the precipitation pathway in the matrix,resulting in a reduced age-hardening potential of the former alloy and an improved age-hardening potential of the latter alloy.