Extra electron diffraction spots caused by fine precipitates formed at the early stage of aging in Al-Mg-X (X=Si, Ge, Zn)-Cu alloys

Age-hardenable Al-Mg-Si, Al-Mg-Ge, and Al-Zn-Mg alloys including Cu were investigated by transmission electron microscopy to understand extra diffraction spots that appear in their selected area electron diffraction patterns. These alloys containing Cu exhibit similar extra diffracted spots to each other with diffracted spots or streaks for Al matrix and major precipitates in each alloy. The extra spots cannot be confirmed in Cu-free alloys. The initial cluster, which is based on the β″-phase in the Al-Mg-Si alloy, is proposed to be MgSi(/Ge)Mg, CuMgSi(/Ge), AlCuMg, and AlZnMg, while the second clusters, which consist of three initial clusters including anti-phase boundary short-range order, are proposed for Cu-containing alloys.