A metallurgical study of aluminium alloys used as aircraft components

The effects of heat treatment on morphologies and microstructures of Al 202 4 and Al 7050 alloys, used as aircraft components, were studied by metallog raphic techniques. Light microscopy (LM) and quantitative image analysis we re used to characterize the precipitate dispersion and morphology for these alloys. The application of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ener gy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) combined techniques for studying these mul tiphase systems makes it possible to distinguish and quantify the different phases in the surface structure. Xray diffraction also permitted a qualita tive comparison of the structures before and after heat treatments.