MATERIALS

SCIENCE &
ENGINEERING

ELS EVI ER Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109-118

A

Overview of the effects of impurities and rare earth elements

in A1-Li alloys
L. Meng '~'*, X.L. Zheng b
~ Department ~!/"Materials Sciem'e and Engineer#lg, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
b College o/" Materials Science and Enghteerh~g, Northwestern Polytechnical University, 2(Fan. China
Received 29 July 1996

Abstract

The current status of the effects of impurities and rare earth elements on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of
AI-Li alloys has been surveyed in the present paper. Particular attention has been paid to the mechanical properties in respect of
different conditions and the mechanisms responsible for both impurity-induced embrittlement and rare earth element microalloy-
ing. AI-Li alloys usually show a high sensitivity to impurity-induced embrittlement. High hydrogen concentration in A1-Li alloys
results in severe hydrogen embrittlement, hnpurities Fe and Si could form some brittle compound particles to produce the
negative effects on the microstructure. Alkali metal impurities such as Na and K could result in the formation of grain boundary
liquid, recrystallized grains, coarse particles distributed along grain boundaries and ~' (AI3Li) precipitation-free zones (~'-PFZ).
By reducing the tendency for brittle intergranular fracture, the effects of rare earth elements, such as cerium and scandium, as
alloying additions, on the microstructure and the mechanical properties are usually beneficial. Rare earth modification for A1-Li
alloys improves ductility, fracture toughness and possibly reduces their anisotropy to a certain degree. These microalloying effects
of rare earth additions might suppress the impurity impairment. Adding an amount of rare earth elements somewhat reduces the
stress concentration sensitivity in high strength AI-Li alloys while the notch strength is hardly affected. Though the microalloying
of rare earth elements improves the mechanical properties, in particular, the ductility of smooth specimens, high strength AI-Li
alloys still have high sensitivity to stress concentrations. This might be a possible obstruction to the widespread application of high
strength A1-Li alloys in primary aerospace structures containing geometry notch design. In order to achieve an essential
improvement in the ductility and fi'acture toughness of A1-Li alloys, it is necessary to find further efficient alloying approaches
associated with rare earth constituents. 9 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.

Keywords: AI-Li alloy; hnpurity; Rare earth addition; Mechani~l property; Microstructure

1. Introduction achieve an acceptable balance of engineering properties,

The progress in new aerospace structures that de-
mand improved damage tolerance and weight efficiency
leads to the development of a number of interesting
alloys. Therefore, the research on AI-Li alloys has
attracted world wide attention. On the basis of some
optimistic estimations, A1-Li alloys as a class of these
interesting alloys have the potential to save up to 8% in
weight by direct substitution for conventional alu-
minum alloys, and up to 24% in weight if the increased
specific stiffness (modulus/density) could be exploited
[1-4]. However, whether this potential could be put
into reality depends on the factor that A1-Li alloys must
* Corresponding author.
at least equivalent to those of conventional aluminum
alloys [5]. The impact of AI-Li alloys at present on
aerospace market has fallen short of initial expecta-
tions. Part of the reason is, as compared with conven-
tional aerospace-quality aluminum alloys, that AI-Li
alloys have poor ductility, low fracture toughness and
high anisotropy in mechanical properties.
A possible mechanism responsible for the embrittle-
ment of A1-Li aIloys is that these alloys show a higher
sensitivity to deleterious impurities. Advanced vacuum
techniques using electron beam melting might eventu-
ally reduce impurities to a level at which fracture occurs
only in a ductile transgranular manner. As a result, the
mechanical properties are significantly improved [6].
Another most widely acceptable method for improving

0921-5093/97/$17.00 9 1997 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

PIIS0921.5093(97)00096-8
110 L. Meng, X.L. Zheng / Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109-118
mechanical properties is effective alloying that makes it
possible to form uniform microstructure, new precipi-
tated phases, suitable distribution of hardening parti-
cles, high strain at the interfaces between coherent
particles and matrix phase, and reasonable component
of crystallographic textures [7-11 ]. In addition, suitable
alloying methods also assist the formation of some
harmless compounds containing impurities to suppress
impurity impairment or reduce the segregating level of
impurities on grain boundaries, which could naturally
improve mechanical properties [8,12].
Rare earth elements have some noticeable effects in
aluminum alloys. They display not only the functions
of refining out impurities and reducing size of cast
grains during melting processes, but also the effects of
delaying recrystallization and refining precipitates dur-
ing heat treating processes [13,14]. Therefore, rare earth
elements deserve extra attentions in A1-Li alloys for the
improvement in engineering properties.
Therefore, it is clear that impurities and rare earth
elements usually show significant effect on mechanical
properties of A1-Li alloys. In this paper, the current
status on the study of the above-mentioned effects is
overviewed and the corresponding mechanisms are also
discussed or surveyed.
2. Effects of impurities
2.1, H y d r o g e n contamination
Absorbing hydrogen in aluminum alloys occurs as a
result of reaction of the melt with moisture in a melt
environment. Generally, the hydrogen content in the
A1-Li alloys produced by present melting and casting
techniques is about 10 times more than that in other
high strength aerospace aluminum alloys [1,3,15].
Moreover, it is more difficult to degas hydrogen from
A1-Li alloys than it is from Li-free aluminum alloys.
Such disproportionately high hydrogen concentrations
in A1-Li alloys are attributed to a large increase in the
hydrogen solid solubility in the lithium alloyed matrix
and to the formation of some hydrogen-rich phases
during solidification [3,16]. As a result, the hydrogen
contamination causes more marked embrittlement to
AI-Li alloys than to conventional aluminum alloys.
Some investigations have reported the effects of hy-
drogen embrittlement on the mechanical behavior of
A1-Li alloys. It was indicated by Lewandowski and
Holroyd (1990) and Hill and Williams (1984) [16,17]
that the formation of some stable hydrides such as LiH
might cause poor ductility and toughness. A significant
increase in ductility and toughness was achieved by
reducing hydrogen content of A1-Li-Mg alloys from 43
ppm to 14 ppm; further reductions in hydrogen content
would be expected to result in further increases in
ductility and toughness [17]. Shin et al. [18] examined
the effect of hydrogen on the tensile properties of
hydrogen-charged specimens for alloy 2090. They
found that fracture strain of the alloy decreased linearly
from 6.6% to 5.2% with increasing the square root of
charging time until 48 h and the effect of hydrogen on
fracture strain increased with decreasing strain rate at
293 K.
A1-Li alloys are generally susceptible to stress corro-
sion cracking. Hydrogen plays an important role in
stress corrosion cracking in A1-Li alloys [19]. On the
basis of a test result from a reversible type o f embrittle-
merit in 8090-T651 alloy, Holroyd et al. [20] suggested
that hydrogen embrittlement might be a factor in the
stress corrosion cracking of A1-Li alloys. The specimens
stressed at 240 MPa in 3.5% NaC1 failed during subse-
quent exposure to laboratory air and the time to failure
in laboratory air decreased with increasing the time of
pre-exposure to the salt solution; however, a vacuum
degassing treatment could eliminate the embrittlement
caused by pro-exposure. Hydrogen embrittlement was
also proposed as a fatigue damage mechanism [21,22].
An investigation on intrinsic fatigue crack propagation
of alloy 2090 in moist air, water vapor and aqueous
chloride has reported some significant results or evi-
dences to explain that hydrogen embrittlement is impli-
cated as the causal mechanism for environmental
fatigue cracking [23].
2.2. Iron a n d silicon
Impurities Fe and Si in A1-Li alloys result in the
formation o f some brittle particles, such as AI7Cu2Fe,
AILiSi, Fe2Si2AI9 and Al12(Fe, Mn)3Si [6,24]. Stress
concentrations generally develop within the grains con-
taining these brittle particles to favor a breakdown
along the interfaces between the particles and matrix
phase.
Table 1 gives some test results on the effects of
Fe + Si content on the mechanical properties and the
microstructural parameters for alloys 2090 and 8090
[25-27]. By comparison with the alloys containing less
impurities Fe and Si, the alloys containing more Fe and
Si have lower ductility and toughness, and higher per-
centage of recrystallized volume. However, the fatigue
life of low-purity 8090 alloy is somewhat higher than
that of high-purity 8090 alloy. The reason behind this is
that Fe and Si increase the strength of 8090 alloy,
which is the governing factor of the fatigue life of an
alloy in long-life region [28,29].
2.3. A l k a l i metals
Earlier investigations reported the detrimental effect
of alkali metal impurities on the mechanical properties
of A1-Li alloys. Vasudrvan et al. [30] observed linear
L. Meng, X.L. Zheng / Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109- I 18 111

.0
.o
e~
.N ~o
o
o~
_=
0

::L
v II

"0
e,,
~p
e~ c ~
ox

"a ~N
ii ,-
~N
d'-
7,
,<

I v

"r~

+ o ~U -9-P -~o
I I o

8 8

z
o~o

,.-.t
-N ,.~

N o
N

Noo

.g >. a~
d ,~ N~ NG
e~ O ~u

~ ,~ .~

. ~.~
8, +
o~

i ~a, ~ ~
o 'oM
112 L. Meng, X.L, Zheng / Materials Science and Engineering A 23 7 (1997) 109 - 118

[ 10-I
-~ 4O
S-L orientation
35 B= 12.7mm
gl
30
~40ppm Na ~10ppm Nal
"~ 2S E 10-8
I:I
O

#.1
20
zs ,.I
0 I0
N a + K (ppm)
Fig. 1. Effect of Na + K content on fl'acture toughness of ellevron-
notched short-bar specimens for 2090 alloy [34].
decrease in slow bend Charpy toughness of AI-Li-Mn
alloys containing up to 546 at. ppm Na in as-quenched
and underaged condition. Webster [31] also noticed the
toughness reduction of A1-Li alloys containing up to
434 ppm Na and 23 ppm K.
Some study results listed in Table 2 show the effects
of alkali metal impurities on the mechanical properties
of alloys 2090 and 8090 [26,29,32,33]. Alkali metal
impurities significantly reduce the ductility, fracture
toughness and fatigue life of above alloys. In addition,
the strength of 2090 alloy containing more alkali metal
impurities also greatly decreases. Sweet et al. [34] stud-
ied the effect of alkali metal impurities on short-trans-
verse (S-T) fracture toughness of alloy 2090 at 20~ In
the range of 428-456 MPa yield strength, the average
fracture toughness of alloy 2090 in S-T orientation
sharply decreased with increasing Na + K content, es-
pecially in the range of 0.5-10 ppm (Fig. 1).
I I
O 30ppm N a + K t
10-z " e 49ppm Na-+-KJ 2090
A52ppmNa+Kt~
" & 9 1 p p m N a + K J 8090
"d 1, 5mm, T8
-~ 10-9
r T-L orientation
z ties. Webster [6,31,36] supposed a possible mechanism
.~ I0-~
10 -5 I I
100` 8 101 . o
AK (MPa v/--~m)
Fig. 2. Effect of Na + K content on fatigue crack propagation rate of
2090 and 8090 alloy sheets [25,29].
I I
>
20 30 40
IO-D
0
c_) 25 rnrn plate ,80'C
S-L orientation
10-1o I I , il I I i
4 6 8 I0 12 14 16
K (MPa,,[m-m)
Fig. 3. Creep crack velocity (at 80~ vs, stress intensity factor for
8090 experimental alloys (aged for 32 h at 170~ with about 10 and
40 pprn Na, respectively [35].
Fig. 2 shows the effect of alkali metal impurities on
the fatigue crack propagation rates of alloys 2090 and
8090 [25,29]. As may been seen, with the increase of the
content of alkali metal impurities in both the alloys, the
fatigue crack propagation rates increase. Lynch [35]
studied the effects of stress intensity factor and Na
content on the sustained-load cracking of alloy 8090
plates in S-L orientation. The test results, as shown in
Fig. 3, indicated that the creep cracking rate of 8090
alloy with about 40 ppm Na in single-aged condition, at
a given temperature and an initial stress intensity fac-
tor, was three to five times higher than that of the alloy
with about 10 ppm No. Furthermore, the fracture
| | I
toughness of the alloy with about 40 ppm Na decreased
by about one-half as compared with that of the alloy
with about 10 ppm Na.
O
O 3. M e c h a n i s m s of i m p u r i t y - i n d u c e d e m b r i t t l e m e n t
,@t
Several mechanisms were thought to be responsible
for the embrittlement induced by alkali metal impuri-
of liquid metal embrittlement. In A1-Li alloys, the alkali
metal impurities might exist in the form of discrete
lenticular liquid particles of the Na- and K-rich phases
(probably also containing Cs and Pb) with low melting
point. The particles of liquid phases rich ill Na and K
I 9 i located on the grain boundaries could act as stress
1019 LO1. 4 concentrations or grain boundary cracks, which result
in the extensive local strain in grain boundary regions
and promote brittle intergranular failure. Moreover, the
existence of the liquid phases inside cracks could greatly
reduce the surface energy. Therefore, the embrittlement
 L. Meng, Z.L. Zheng / Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109-1 I8 t 13

caused by the liquid phases on grain boundaries could L ! !

be also regarded as the result of reducing the stress 700

required to propagate the cracks along grain 600
boundaries.
Moreover, the interfaces between the inclusions and
matrix phase inside the grains are also frequent low-en-
ergy sites for the diffusion of alkali metal impurities
[6,35]. The presence of the liquid impurities around the
intermetallic particles facilitates cleavage splitting.
Lynch [35] suggested another possible mechanism
500
400
300
2,00
100'
2
0

responsible for impurity-induced embrittlement under o 0.5 1. o 1.5

creep conditions. Under sustained-load conditions, al- Ce (wt, N)

kali metal atoms could migrate to crack tips, weaken
interatomic bonds and thereby facilitate dislocation
injection from crack tips consequently to promote crack
growth.
The microstructural change induced by alkali metal
impurities in AI-Li alloys is also one of the main
reasons of impurity-induced embrittlement, hnpurities
Na and K enhance the percentage of recrystallized
volume (Table 2) and could thus increase the propor-
tion of low-energy intergranular fracture since Na and
K were the possible elements reducing the grain
boundary energy [25,29,33]. Alkali metal impurities
could promote the precipitation of some compounds or
indefinite coarse particles along grain boundaries and
the formation of c~'-PFZ, which could also facilitate
crack formation and propagation along grain
boundaries [32,33,37]. Moreover, there usually appears
non-uniform T~ (A12CuLi) particles in alloy 2090 con-
taining high concentration of alkali metal impurities
[33]. Consequently, the material performance becomes
worse.
As mentioned above, impurities H, Fe, Si and alkali
metals have very obviously detrimental effects on the
microstructure and the mechanical properties in view of
some mechanisms that have been discussed above or
Fig. 4. Effectof Ce content on grain size of A1- 2.5-3,3% Li alloys
(rolling reduction of 80%, solution treating at 530~ and aging 100 h
at 180~ [46].
tents of gases or some impurities and the intervals
between secondary dendrite arms. In some conventional
wrought aluminum alloys, they have also displayed the
actions to prevent the formation of coarse inclusions,
reduce hydrogen diffusion coefficient, enhance thermal
conductivity and extend ductile transgranular fracture.
These actions could improve the superplasticity, ther-
mal plasticity, fracture toughness, corrosion resistance,
weldability and oxide-film coloration. It might be sup-
posed that the functions of rare earth elements in
conventional aluminum alloys should also exist in vary-
ing degrees in A1-Li alloys on certain conditions.
4.1. Scandium
Sc is a beneficial alloying element in A1-Li alloys. Sc
modification of A1-Li alloys has been studied more in
Russia. A family of A1-Li alloys containing Sc addition
! I ! ! ! |

will be found in further investigations. These detriments 35

undoubtedly make impediments to widespread engi-
neering application of A1-Li alloys in aircraft structures.
30
The performance of A1-Li alloys could be substantially
improved by the means of vacuum refining processes
and using high-purity aluminum and lithium pigs to 25 5
v
prepare finished materials, but these methods are rather
v
costly. Therefore, it should be necessary to adopt effec- 2o 4 ~
tive alloying measures in A1-Li alloys to reduce their
susceptibility to deleterious impurities. However, it is 15
still a difficult study to find a rather satisfactory alloy- 1.5ram sheet
ing way. T-L orientation
I0 ! _, I I I, i ,, , i

0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25

Co (wt. ~
4. Effects o f rare earth elements

Fig. 5. Effectof Ce content on fracture toughness (evaluated from

Rare earth elements in conventional casting alu- crack resistance curves of CT specimens in T-L orientation) and
minum alloys have shown beneficial behaviour during percentageelongationof alloy 2090 sheetsrich in impuritiesFe and Si
melting and solidifying. These elements reduce the con- [26,33].
114 L. Meng, X.L. Zheng / Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109-118

o
~ i
0

NNN~ ~

t'r N

~ i ~ ~

N
~ I M ~ M
u
N
N
N
$
0 r'.l

0
.=~
N N ~
0

~ +
~ Z
rtl

"0

tt3
 L. Meng, JE.L. Zheng / Materials Science and Engineerhag A237 (1997) I09-118 115

has been developed for aerospace applications [38-40]. Table 4

Some investigations [38-43] indicated that the normal Anisotropic parameters of 2090 and 8090 alloy sheets [47,48]
contributions of Sc constituent to AI-Li alloys were to Alloy Ce (wt. %) AUTS zfEL (%) ,dK=
improve yield strength, ductility and weldability. The (MPa) (MPa ,/-m)
mechanism responsible for the contributions is that Sc
in A1-Li alloys makes the elevated recrystallized temper- 2090 0 55 5.0 28.4
ature, fine grains and ~' particles, new dispersed parti- (1.5 ram) 0.12 47 5.6 16.1
0.25 49 5.7 13.6
cles such as A13Sc or Ala(Sc• and uniform S' 8090 0 63 4.2 18.3
phase [38-43]. (2.0 ram) 0.09 55 6.3 22.4
As attracted by Sc advantages, Chinese investigators 0.28 30 5.5 16.0
have paid attention to the field of Sc microalloying in
A1-Li alloys and obtained some results that also verify
the profitable functions of Sc modification [44,45]. for ultimate tensile strength in both 2090 alloy sheets
and 8090 alloy sheets.
In order to understand the behavior of AI-Li alloys
4.2. Cerium
in the presence of high stress concentrations such as
fastener holes which are usually unavoidable in practi-
Buttinelli et al. [46] reported the effects of Ce content
cal structures with geometric discontinuities, the tension
on the grain size of a binary A1-Li alloy and Ce
characteristics of notched specimens for 2090 alloy
addition on the mechanical properties of A1-Li-Mg
sheets with various Ce contents have been studied
casting alloys containing impurity Fe. The grain num-
ber in unit area in the binary alloy linearly increased [49,50]. The Ce-containing alloy sheets exhibit an in-
with raising Ce content up to 1.1% (Fig. 4). The significantly varying notch strength (Fig. 6), even
mechanical properties of the A1-Li-Mg casting alloys though Ce modification could improve their ductility of
were improved and the negative effect of impurity Fe the smooth specimens. On the basis of a theoretical
was controlled by Ce addition. analysis, the notch strength could be predicted by
As mentioned above, the commercial AI-Li alloys means of conventional tensile properties under various
such as 2090 or 8090 have rather low ductility and theoretical stress concentration factors [51]. Moreover,
fracture toughness if they have high concentration of Ce microalloying could decrease the stress concentra-
impurities. However, adding a small amount of Ce tion sensitivity to a certain degree, but not essentially
element into A1-Li alloys rich in impurities could sig- settle up the problem of high notch sensitivity for 2090
nificantly recover their ductility and fracture toughness. alloy. The reason behind this might be that Ce adding
As shown in Fig. 5, for 2090 alloy sheets containing into high strength A1-Li alloys could not still show
more Fe and St, the plane stress fracture toughness and significant effects on deformation and fracture mecha-
elongation increase by about 70-90% when the alloy is nisms. This might be therefore suggested to be a note-
modified by adding 0.05-0.25% Ce [26,33]. worthy potential obstruction to the practical
The effect of Ce addition on the ductility and plane applications of high strength A1-Li alloys in aircraft
stress fracture toughness of 8090 alloy sheets rich in structures.
impurities Fe, Si and alkali metals is summarized in
Table 3 [27,29,32]. As may been seen, the ductility is 600 I - ! I
/
l

significantly improved by adding 0.05% Ce into the T orientation 2.0ram

8090 alloy sheets rich in alkali metal impurities or
adding 0.28% Ce into those rich in impurities Fe and
St. As a result, their fracture toughness increases, espe-
cially for the latter.
500'
v
:4
Another benefit of Ce modification is to reduce in-
plane anisotropy in some of mechanical properties v 300~
[47,48]. The anisotropic parameters given in Table 4,
which were defined as the difference of maximum value
2O0
minus minimum value of the test results determined
from the specimens with different tested orientations I

respectively for ultimate tensile strength, percentage I000 O. I O. Z O.

elongation and plane stress fracture toughness, could
approximately express the anisotropic levels. As a result
of Ce modification, the anisotropic levels decrease for
plane stress fracture toughness in 2090 alloy sheets and
Ce (wt. ~ )
Fig. 6. Relationshipsof notch strength vs. Ce contents under different
theoretical stress concentrations for 2090 sheets [50].
116 L. Meng, X.L. Zhe~g / Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109-- 118
However, the efficacy of the current methods of rare
earth microalloying is still limited to improve the mi-
crostructure and the mechanical properties of A1-Li
alloys. Generally, the ductility a n d fracture toughness
of A1-Li alloys containing rare earth additions are not
still superior to these of conventional aluminum alloys.
5. O n the mechanisms of rare earth microalloying
Rare earth constituents added to AI-Li alloys pro-
duce some useful effects on the microstructures. These
effects could be simply summarized as follows:
1. The recrystallization is suppressed; consequently,
the recrystallized volume and grain size are de-
creased (see Table 3). Correspondingly, the propor-
tion o f crystallography texture components changes,
which affects the anisotropic level [47,48].
2. Some precipitated particles such as 3' (A13Li), T~
(A12CuLi) and S' ( A 4 C u M g ) become finer or more
uniform [38,40,46,48,49].
3. The precipitation of some coarse c o m p o u n d parti-
cles along grain boundaries is restrained, in particu-
lar, in the alloys rich in impurities [25,26,32].
4. The tendency to form d ' - P F Z along high angle grain
boundaries and subgrain boundaries is checked in
the alloys rich in impurities [49]. Moreover, the
decrease in d ' - P F Z should be also related to the
reduction in coarse c o m p o u n d s precipitated along
grain boundaries because of the benefit of rare earth
elements.
These effects of rare earth elements on the mi-
crostructure significantly enhance the p r o p o r t i o n o f
transgranular fracture as a result o f gtill more uniform
strain within the graius and stronger bonding at grain
boundaries. Therefore, the ductility and fracture tough-
ness are improved because o f increased fracture resis-
tance. Moreover, the anisotropy in mechanical
properties is reduced because of improved uniformity of
precipitated particles and appropriate distribution of
crystallography texture.
A further mechanism of rare earth microalloying is
that rare earth elements affect the behavior o f solute
diffusion in crystal lattice. Meng and Z h a n g [52] re-
ported test results on diffusion coefficients measured
and calculated fi-om diffusion couples with various Ce
contents in 2090 alloy (Fig. 7). When 2090 alloy con-
tains a certain a m o u n t of Ce addition, the diffusion
coefficient, which is also dependent on the concentra-
tion distribution of Cu constituent, decreases. This is
one of the reasons why rare earth elements could delay
recrystallization, refine precipitated particles, reduce
coarse compounds along grain boundaries and suppress
d'-PFZ formation. Moreover, it might be generally
deduced from the tested result that rare earth additions
could also delay impurity segregation to grain
O. 20 , I IV , ,
Co-free
0.16
0.12
To
• 0.08
O. 0r
I I I 1' *
0.4 0.8 1.2 .6 2.0
Cu ( ~ )
Fig. 7. Diffusion coefficientas a function of Cu concentration distri-
bution in alloy 2090/A1diffusion couples (isothermal annealing for 30
h at 540~ with different Ce contents in alloy 2090 [52].
boundaries during the processes of heat treatments.
This is another possible reason why rare earth modifi-
cation could reduce impurity-induced embrittlement o f
grain boundaries.
The mechanisms responsible for the effect o f r a r e
earth addition on solute diffusion coefficient in A1-Li
alloys have been discussed [13,52]. Firstly, it is well
known that there is a stronger mutual attraction be-
tween rare earth elements and other alloying elements
because the former has an active chemical character,
which should produce a dragging effect on solute mi-
gration. Secondly, since the atomic size of rare e a r t h
elements is greater than that o f aluminum; thus t h e y
tend to occupy vacancies in crystal lattice when r a r e
earth atoms come into solid solution so as to m a k e
deformation of crystal lattice or increment of i n t e r n a l
energy as small as possible. As a result, the m a t r i x
phase of the alloys containing rare earth elements
should have a lower vacancy concentration and there-
fore the solute migration depending on vacancy m e c h a -
nism must be more difficult. Finally, rare e a r t h
elements could raise atomic bonding energy of alloying
elements such as Li and Mg [53J, which could also
make extra difficulty to atomic migration.
6. Conclusion
AI-Li alloys exhibit high sensitivity to impurity-in-
duced embrittlement. This is one of the reasons why the
ductility and fracture toughness of AI-Li alloys are
usually lower than those of conventional aluminum
alloys.
Hydrogen embrittlement causes marked losses in
toughness, stress corrosion resistance and corrosion
fatigue resistance. Fe and Si form brittle compounds o r
 L. Meng, X.L. Zheng / Materials Science and Engineering A237 (1997) 109-118
produce negative effects on the microstructure to result
in embrittlement. Alkali metals p r o m o t e the formations
o f grain b o u n d a r y liquids, recrystallized grains, coarse
particles along grain boundaries and J ' - P F Z to result in
embrittlement.
A d d i n g rare earth elements to A1-Li alloys is benefi-
cial. The finer grains, lower recrystallization propor-
tion, more uniform precipitated particles and fewer
coarse compounds precipitated along grain boundaries
and fewer d ' - P F Z are obtained because rare earth
additions reduce solute diffusion rates. As a result, the
mechanical properties of AI-Li alloys m a y be improved.
A n a m o u n t of rare earth elements m a y suppress the
detrimental effects of impurities on mechanical proper-
ties o f A1-Li alloys since the actions o f rare earth
elements on the microstructure are opposite from those
o f the deleterious impurities and rare earth elements
p r o d u c e possibly dragging effect on impurity atom
segregation to grain boundaries.
T h e r e is no significant improvement in notch strength
of A1-Li alloys modified by rare earth element Ce.
Moreover, there is still a high level o f stress concentra-
tion sensitivity even though rare earth modification
m a y improve the ductility to a certain degree. There-
fore, it should be pointed out that high notch sensitivity
m a y be a potential obstruction to widespread applica-
tions o f high strength A1-Li alloys in aircraft structures.
T h e ductility and fracture toughness o f AI-Li alloys
modified by rare earth elements could not still achieve a
rather satisfactory level. This is because the benefit o f
rare earth modification is limited only by causing the
refinement of grains and precipitates, and suppressing
the impairment o f impurities. Therefore, it is necessary
to find more efficient alloying approaches associated
with rare earth additions. In order to obtain essential
i m p r o v e m e n t in engineering properties o f A1-Li alloys,
the approaches should have the effects to increase
m i s m a t c h in the matrix-cS' phase system, introduce sec-
o n d a r y precipitation system and produce additional
dispersed hardening system, in addition to refine grains
and precipitates and to suppress impurity impairment.
References
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