MPPE-Cluster-A3.31 - Cluster Formation and Evolution in Al-Mg-Si alloys

Goal of this project is the development of a concise understanding of cluster formation in Al-Mg-Si alloys during industrial heat treatments to generate a basis for modelling natural and artificial aging. Special attention is put on the very early clustering stages, which involve only a small number of atoms, i.e. atomic pairs and couples, as well as small complexes with structural vacancies. The evolution of these clusters, until they finally transform into stable crystalline phases, will be experimentally investigated, among others, with Atom Probe Tomography (APT), Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) and electron microscopy. Simultaneously, some recent models describing the thermodynamics and kinetics of couple and pair formation, which are already implemented in the MatCalc code, as well as new models that will be developed in an accompanying strategic project, will be utilized to simulate these processes in the framework of computational thermokinetics.