Thermally Precipitated Phases and their Distribution in an Aluminum-Silicon-Cadmium Alloy

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Abstract
X‐ray and electron diffraction and electron microscopy have been used to study the composition and distribution of the precipitated phases in an aluminum—4% silicon—1% cadmium alloy as a function of thermal history. Thin precipitated crystallites are detected in extraction replicas of specimens tempered above 400°F and have been identified by selected area electron diffraction as elemental silicon. The amount of silicon remaining undissolved after solution treatment at 1000°F can easily be distinguished from that precipitated upon tempering, and the amount of silicon observed to dissolve and reprecipitate after solution and tempering treatment is in agreement with reported equilibrium data. The aluminum oxide replica was found to be unsuitable for this investigation. A direct carbon replica technique, however, was found to be satisfactory. The extent of precipitation of the minor phases as a function of tempering temperature, as determined by quantitative x‐ray diffraction studies, was found to correlate with a mechanical property of the alloy.

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