Application of X-Ray Diffraction to Analyse Phase Composition of Aluminium Alloysfor Plastic Working

Abstract

An attempt was made to determine phase composition of commercial aluminium alloys using X-ray diffraction. Samples for phase composition analysis were selected from the group of aluminium alloys covered by the EN 573-3:2013 standard [1]. Representative samples were taken from eight groups of alloys with different chemical composition (at least one sample from each group). The diffraction intensity was measured with a standard X-ray diffractometer in Bragg-Brentano geometry in a way that allowed identification of the weakest diffraction peaks. As a results of the performed research it has been shown that X-ray phase analysis can be used to identify the matrix of aluminium alloys, Si and crystalline intermetallic phases such as Mg2Si, Al93.38Cu6.02Fe24Si16.27, Al4.01MnSi0.74, MgZn2, Al17(Fe3.2Mn0.8)Si2, Al65Cu20Fe15, and Cu3Mn2Al. The detectability limit of the above-mentioned phases is better than 0.5%. The research has also shown that X-ray phase analysis is applicable in the investigation of phase transformations taking place in aluminium alloys.

Keywords

• aluminium alloys
• x-ray diffraction
• qualitative phase analysis