Effect of Mg contents on the mechanical proprieties and precipitation kinetics in Al–3.3 wt.% Cu alloy

The effect of additional Mg on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and transformation kinetics during aging in Al–3.3 wt.% Cu alloy was studied. The compositions and microstructure were examined by X-ray diffraction, Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that the Mg in the Al–Cu alloy mainly precipitated to the grain boundaries during the process of transformation and formed a ternary Al2CuMg metallic compound and the rate of discontinuous precipitation reaction decreases with increasing concentration of Mg. The activation energy of crystallization was evaluated by applying the Kissinger equation