DECOMPOSITION KINETICS OF TERNARY ALLOYS BY ANOMALOUS SMALL-ANGLE X-RAY-SCATTERING

Small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) is sensitive to fluctuations of th e electronic density from the nanometer to the micrometer scale. Howev er, SAXS alone is often insufficient to resolve the distribution of el ements or phases in metallic materials. Anomalous SAXS (ASAXS) is a te chnique of choice to complete the necessary information. In particular it helps to reinforce the contrast (for instance to follow the kineti cs of tweed pattern formation in Cu Ni Fe), to discriminate between di fferent interpretations of SAXS profiles (as was done in Invar), to pr ecise the composition of complex phases (preprecipitation in an Al Zn Mg Cu alloy), or to highlight and to separate the contributions to the scattering of different kinds of particles (in an Al Li Mg Cu aged ha rdenable alloy).