On the α(Al)/δ′(Al3Li) metastable solvus in aluminium-lithium alloys

Data for the alpha/delta'(Al3Li) solvus reported in the literature shows an extremely wide scatter. An attempt has therefore been made to redefine this solvus boundary using electrical resistivity measurements for low lithium concentrations and differential scanning calorimetry for high lithium concentrations. The concentration, C-e, at the alpha/delta' boundary is closely defined over the range 2-13 at.% Li by the equation [GRAPHICS] and found to be in good agreement with values calculated from thermodynamic data. Zirconium additions of up to 0.05 at.% do not affect the position of the alpha/delta' boundary. A by-product of the investigation was the resistivity of the delta'(Al3Li) phase, which was calculated to be 41 n Omega m. (C) 1998 Acta Metallurgica Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.