Annealing-induced microstructural evolution in melt-spun Al–10% Sr alloy

In the present work, the annealing-induced microstructural evolution of melt-spun Al–10% Sr (in wt.%) alloy has been investigated, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A monotonically decreasing signal was observed on the DSC trace of the melt-spun Al–10% Sr alloy isothermally annealed at 600 °C, indicating that the microstructural evolution is a grain growth process rather than one of nucleation and growth. The nanoscale Al4Sr phase in as-quenched Al–10% Sr alloy grows with increasing annealing temperature and time. Furthermore, the Al4Sr particles are not randomly oriented and grow along a certain direction with respect to the Al matrix.