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Revealing Solute Clusters in Coalescence by Atom Probe Tomography Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2020

Rong Hu ,
Jizi Liu ,
Yidong Zhang  and
Gang Sha
Rong Hu
Affiliation:
Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Room 307, Building 340, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
Jizi Liu
Affiliation:
Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Room 307, Building 340, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
Yidong Zhang
Affiliation:
Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Room 307, Building 340, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
Gang Sha*
Affiliation:
Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Room 307, Building 340, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210094, China
*
*Author for correspondence: Gang Sha, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Experimentally revealing dynamic evolution and growth behavior of small solute clusters in alloys remains a technical challenge. To date, the coalescence of the solute clusters has seldom been experimentally addressed. To address the challenge, we used atom probe tomography (APT) to access boundary information of solute clusters and identify those in close contact. By systematically investigating the population and size evolution of the clusters in close contact with aging time, we unveiled important information regarding the clusters in coalescence with the exsitu experimental technique. In this work, the maximum separation method was employed to identify clusters in APT datasets of naturally aged Al–Zn–Mg alloy. Coalescence was found to significantly contribute to the growth of small clusters and remained predominant for the formation and growth of large Guinier–Preston II ${\rm \lpar G}{\rm P}_{{\eta }^{\prime}}\rpar$ zones after 3 months aging.

Keywords

Al–Zn–Mg alloyatom probe tomographyclusterscoalescencemaximum separation method
Type
Materials Science Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 26 , Issue 6 , December 2020 , pp. 1079 - 1087
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2020

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