| Summary: | Among the commercial aluminum alloys, aluminum 319 (Al-7wt%Si-4wt%Cu) type alloys are popularly used in automobile engine parts. These alloys have good casting characteristics and excellent mechanical properties resulting from a suitable heat treatment. To get a high strength in the 319 type alloys, grain refining, reducing the porosity, solid solution hardening, and precipitation hardening are preferred. All experimental variables such as solidification condition, composition, and heat treatment are influence on the precipitation behavior; however, precipitation hardening is the most significant because excess alloying elements from supersaturated solid solution form fine particles which act as obstacles to dislocation movement. The challenges of the 319 type alloys arise due to small size of precipitate and complex aging response caused by multi components. It is important to determine the chemical composition, crystal structure, and orientation relationship as well as precipitate morphology in order to understand the precipitation behavior and strengthening mechanism. In this study, the mechanical properties and microstructure were investigated using transmission electron microscopy and three dimensional atom probe tomography. The Mn and Mg effects on the microstructure and mechanical properties are discussed with crystallographic study on the iron intermetallic phases. The microstructural evolution and nucleation study on the precipitates in the low-Si 319 type aluminum alloys are also presented with sample preparation and analysis condition of TEM and 3DAP tomography.
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