Experimental study of phase transformations in 3003 aluminium alloys during heating by in situ high energy X-ray synchrotron radiation

This paper aims to study microstructural evolutions in the 3003 aluminium alloys during the heating part of the homogenization treatment from the as-cast state. After solidification, both the solid solution and primary precipitates are far from equilibrium. During a subsequent heating, an eutectoid transformation of the primary eutectic particles and a fine precipitation of dispersoids occur. The evolution of the precipitation amounts are obtained by high energy synchrotron radiation diffraction and microstructural observations (TEM and SEM) combined with image analysis. The analysis of these different results lead to the volume fraction evolutions of dispersoids and primary particles with temperature. Moreover, the different evolutions are compared to in situ electrical resistivity leading to propose the main causes of the variations observed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.