TEM observation of metastable phases in aged Al-Mg-Ge alloys

The purpose of study is to investigate aging behavior, crystal structures of metastable phase and relative frequency of metastable phases in aged Al-Mg-Ge and Al-Mg-Ge-Si alloys using high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). Every alloy included rod-shaped precipitate which is the same as the typical metastable phase, β', in Al-Mg-Si alloy. Except to Mg-rich alloys, the Type-A precipitate, which is a typical metastable phase in the excess Si type Al-Mg-Si alloys and popular at over aged condition, was confirmed as a large rod-shaped precipitates in those alloys. This behavior is probably depends on the ratio of Mg/Ge. Also, Mg, Si and Ge were detected from the β'-phase in Al-Mg-Ge-Si alloy by EELS. This means that the β'-phase in Al-Mg-Ge-Si alloy consists of these 3 elements including Si, not just Ge to form metastable Mg₂Ge.