TALAT Lecture 1204: Precipitation Hardening

This lecture provides an introduction to the metallurgy of precipitation hardening, with a presentation of the fundamental mechanisms involved and illustrations from alloys which form the basis for engineering alloys. The Al-Mg₂Si system is discussed in some detail because of its commercial importance. The microstructural aspects of precipitation hardening are illustrated by examples, many of which were obtained by electron microscopy; an outline of the background to electron microscopy is given in an appendix. Familiarity with the subject matter covered in earlier lectures 1201, 1202 and 1203 is assumed