This article provides an overview of the metallurgical effects on corrosion of different series of aluminum alloys (1xxx, 2xxx, 3xxx, 4xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx) that are classified into two categories. The first category includes the effects from insoluble, intermetallic constituent particles generally formed from trace impurity elements that play a predominant role in pitting corrosion. The second category comprises the effects from precipitation of secondary phases and effects from solute remaining in solid solution on corrosion of aluminum.

This article provides an introduction on the metal side of the corrosion reaction and describes a wide range of metallurgical factors that influence corrosion.

The physical and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy can be improved by strengthening mechanisms such as strain hardening used for non-heat treatable aluminum alloy and precipitation hardening used for heat treatable aluminum alloy. This article focuses on the effect of strengthening mechanisms on the physical and mechanical properties of non-heat treatable and heat treatable aluminum alloys. It describes the use of the aluminum alloy phase diagram in determining the melting temperature, solidification path, equilibrium phases, and explains the effect of alloying element in phase formation.

This article focuses on the metallography and microstructures of wrought and cast aluminum and aluminum alloys. It describes the role of major alloying elements and their effect on phase formation and the morphologies of constituents formed by liquid-solid and/or solid-state transformations. The article also describes specimen preparation procedures and examines the microstructure of several alloy samples.

This article discusses the specimen preparation techniques for zinc and its alloys and zinc-coated specimens, namely, sectioning, mounting, grinding and polishing, and etching. It describes the characteristics of lead, cadmium, iron, copper, titanium, aluminum, magnesium, and tin, which are present in the microstructure of zinc alloys. The article also provides information on microexamination that helps to determine the dendrite arm spacing, as well as the grain size, grain boundaries, and grain counts.

This article reviews the fundamental relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties for major classes of nonmetallic engineering materials: metals, ceramics and glasses, intermetallic compounds, polymers, and composites. It details the structures of inorganic crystalline solids, inorganic noncrystalline solids, and polymers. The article describes the various strengthening mechanisms of crystalline solids, namely, work hardening, solid-solution hardening, particle/precipitation hardening, and grain size hardening. Deformation and strengthening of composite materials, polymers, and glasses are reviewed. The article concludes with information on the two important aspects of the mechanical behavior of any class of engineering material: fatigue response and fracture resistance.

This article provides a thorough review of the physical metallurgy of aluminum alloys and its role in determining the properties and from a design and manufacturing perspective. And its role in include the effects of composition, mechanical working, and/or heat treatment on structure and properties. This article focuses on the effects of alloying and the metallurgical factors on phase constituents, structure, and properties of aluminum alloys. Effects from different combinations of alloying elements are described in terms of relevant alloy phase diagrams. The article addresses the underlying alloying and structural aspects that affect the properties and possible processing routes of aluminum alloys. It provides information on the heat treatment effects on the physical properties of aluminum alloys and the microstructural effects on the fatigue and fracture of aluminum alloys. The important alloying elements and impurities are listed alphabetically as a concise review of major effects.

Conventional high-strength aluminum alloys produced via powder metallurgy (P/M) technologies, namely, rapid solidification (RS) and mechanical alloying (mechanical attrition) have high strength at room temperature and elevated temperature. This article focuses on the metallurgy and weldability of dispersion-strengthened aluminum alloys based on the aluminum-iron system that are produced using various RS-P/M processing techniques. It describes weldability issues related to weld solidification behavior, the formation of hydrogen-induced porosity in the weld zone, and the high-temperature deformation behavior of these alloys, which affect the selection and application of fusion and solid-state welding processes. The article provides specific examples of material responses to welding conditions and highlights the microstructural development in the weld zone.

The cracking process occurs slowly over the service life from various crack growth mechanisms such as fatigue, stress-corrosion cracking, creep, and hydrogen-induced cracking. Each of these mechanisms has certain characteristic features that are used in failure analysis to determine the cause of cracking or crack growth. This article discusses the macroscopic and microscopic basis of understanding and modeling fracture resistance of metals. It describes the four major types of failure modes in engineering alloys, namely, dimpled rupture, ductile striation formation, cleavage or quasicleavage, and intergranular failure. Certain fundamental characteristics of fracture observed in precipitation-hardening alloys, ferrous alloys, titanium alloys are also discussed.

This article begins with a description of indirect and direct semisolid metalworking processes. It then provides information on alloy compositions of common aluminum semisolid metalworking alloys and primary die-cast magnesium alloys in a tabular form. The article describes the macroscopic examination of defects, which occur in semisolid metalworking with illustrations. It discusses the macroscopic examination of gating systems and semisolid feedstocks. The article also provides information on feedstock microstructures, direct semisolid metalworking component microstructures, and indirect semisolid metalworking component microstructures of series 300 aluminum casting alloys and magnesium die-casting alloys.

This article discusses the properties of aluminum surface and the applications of aluminum alloys. It explains the effects of trace elements on aluminum alloys. The article considers microstructural development of aluminum in terms of the surface and explains how it will impact corrosion resistance and surface treatment. It describes the thermodynamics of equilibrium oxidation processes and non-equilibrium corrosion processes. The article provides a discussion on aluminum oxidation under atmospheric and dynamic conditions. It presents the potential/pH (Pourbaix) diagram for aluminum under atmospheric and dynamic conditions. The article also explains the polarization effects during the formation of stable aluminum oxide under dynamic conditions. It concludes with information on the designation system for aluminum finishes.

Cobalt is used as an alloying element in alloys for various applications. This article provides a detailed account of the metallurgy of cobalt-base alloys. It focuses on the compositions, properties, and applications of cobalt-base alloys, which include wear-resistant cobalt alloys, heat-resistant cobalt alloys, and cobalt-base corrosion-resistant alloys. The article also describes the heat treatments such as annealing and aging, for these alloys.

This article is a pictorial representation of commonly observed microstructures in iron-base alloys (carbon and alloy steels, cast irons, tool steels, and stainless steels) that occur as a result of variations in chemical analysis and processing. It reviews a wide range of common and complex mixtures of constituents (single or combination of two phases) that are encountered in iron-base alloys and the complex structure that is observed in these microstructures. The single-phase constituents discussed in the article include austenite, ferrite, delta ferrite, cementite, various alloy carbides, graphite, martensite, and a variety of intermetallic phases, nitrides, and nonmetallic inclusions. The article further describes the two-phase constituents including, tempered martensite, pearlite, and bainite and nonmetallic inclusions in steel that consist of two or more phases.

This article begins with the discussion on the background of metal-matrix composites (MMC) and moves into a broad description of the general parameters affecting the corrosion of MMC. It discusses the primary sources of MMC corrosion that include galvanic corrosion between MMC constituents, chemical degradation of interphases and reinforcements, microstructure-influenced corrosion, and processing-induced corrosion. The article elaborates on the corrosion behavior of specific aluminum, magnesium, titanium, copper, stainless steel, lead, depleted uranium, and zinc MMCs systems. It concludes with a description on the corrosion control of MMCs using protective coatings and inhibitors.

In the handling of molten aluminum, it is fairly common to use filters as a part of the melting unit and in the gating and/or riser system. This article describes the methods of in-furnace and in-mold filtration, with an emphasis on the filtration of molten aluminum. It discusses the factors that influence the formation of inclusions. The article describes the three basic methods of mechanically removing or separating inclusions from molten metal. The methods include sedimentation, flotation, and positive filtration. The article provides a discussion on the types of molten-metal filters, including bonded-particle filters, cartridge filters, and ceramic foam filters. It lists the factors that are important in achieving optimum performance of any in-furnace filtering application. The article concludes with information on filtered metal quality and the methods of evaluation.

Metal-matrix composites (MMCs) are a class of materials with potential for a wide variety of structural and thermal management applications. They are nonflammable, do not outgas in a vacuum, and suffer minimal attack by organic fluids, such as fuels and solvents. This article presents an overview of the status of MMCs, and provides information on physical and mechanical properties, processing methods, distinctive features, and various types of continuously and discontinuously reinforced aluminum, magnesium, titanium, copper, superalloy, and intermetallic-matrix composites. It further discusses the property prediction and processing methods for MMCs.

This article describes the general categories and metallurgy of heat treatable aluminum alloys. It briefly reviews the key impurities and each of the principal alloying elements in aluminum alloys, namely, copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, zinc, iron, lithium, titanium, boron, zirconium, chromium, vanadium, scandium, nickel, tin, and bismuth. The article discusses the secondary phases in aluminum alloys, namely, nonmetallic inclusions, porosity, primary particles, constituent particles, dispersoids, precipitates, grain and dislocation structure, and crystallographic texture. It also discusses the mechanisms used for strengthening aluminum alloys, including solid-solution hardening, grain-size strengthening, work or strain hardening, and precipitation hardening. The process of precipitation hardening involves solution heat treatment, quenching, and subsequent aging of the as-quenched supersaturated solid solution. The article briefly discusses these processes of precipitation hardening. It also reviews precipitation in various alloy systems, including 2xxx, 6xxx, 7xxx, aluminum-lithium, and Al-Mg-Li systems.

This article discusses the specimen preparation of three types of cast and wrought heat-resistant alloys: iron-base, nickel-base, and cobalt-base. Specimen preparation involves sectioning, mounting, grinding, polishing, and etching. The article illustrates the microstructural constituents of cast and wrought heat-resistant alloys. It describes the identification of ferrite by magnetic etching. The transmission electron microscopy examination of the fine strengthening phases in wrought alloys and bulk extraction in heat-resistant alloys are included. The article also reviews the gamma prime phase, gamma double prime phase, eta phase, laves phase, sigma phase, mu phase, and chi phase in wrought heat-resistant alloys.