Kinetics and Microstructural Control

Precipitation Hardening in Light Alloys

The Copper-Aluminum system.
· Aluminum alloyed with copper forms a group of important light weight structural materials.
· The Aluminum rich end of the aluminum-copper phase diagram is illustrated.
· The α-phase is a substitutional solid solution of copper in the aluminum matrix. The θ-phase is an intermetallic compound with the composition CuAl₂.

From: Ashby & Jones, "Engineering Materials," Pergamon (1986)