Internal oxidation of dilute Cu–Al alloy powers with oxidant of Cu2O

The mechanisms responsible for the nucleation, growth and coarsening of Al2O3 particles in dilute Cu–Al alloys during internal oxidation have been investigated, and the alumina morphologies produced have been studied by electron microscopy using two-stage preshadowed carbon replica method. The alumina particle size has been observed to increase with increasing temperature of oxidation, with increasing time of oxidation, and with decreasing oxygen resource coefficient over the experimental range. These results indicate that the alumina particle size is determined by a competition between the rate of nucleation as the internal oxidation front passes and the subsequent growth and coarsening rates of the particles.