By employing atomic-resolution imaging and first principles energy calculations, the growth behavior of S-phase precipitates in a high strength A1-Cu-Mg alloy was investigated. It is demonstrated that the nucleation and growth of the S-phase precipitate are rather anisotropic and temperature-dependent companying with low dimensional phase transformation. There are actually two types of Guinier-Preston （GP） zones that determine the formation mechanism of S-phase at high aging temperatures higher than 180 ℃. One is the precursors of the S-phase itself, the other is the structural units or the precursors of the well-known Guinier-Preston-Bagaryatsky （GPB） zones. At high temperatures the later GPB zone units may form around S-phase precipitate and cease its growth in the width direction, leading to the formation of rod-like S-phase crystals; whereas at low temperatures the S-phase precipitates develop without the interference with GPB zones, resulting in S-phase orecioitates with lath-like momhology.
The A1-Cu-Li-（Mg） alloy is a high-performance lightweight material strengthened by complex coexisting precipitates that form in the alloy upon thermal ageing. Using high-resolution （scanning） transmission electron microscopy in association with first-principles energy calculations, we systematically studied the complex coexisting precipitates in the alloys and correlated their precipitation sequences with thermal ageing processes applied. The principal results are the following： （1） eight types of precipitates can be observed in the alloy; （2） of these precipitates, the Tl-phase is most stable. The S-phase precipitates with segregated Li atoms at their interfacial edges are unexpectedly more stable than the a-phase; （3） the Tl-phase has a characteristic precursor that plays the key role in its nucleation and growth.
Three types of symmetric （1120） tilt low-angle grain boundaries （LAGBs） with array of basal, prismatic, and pyramidal edge full 〈a〉 dislocations in pure Mg have been studied by using the improved Peierls-Nabarro model in combination with the generalized stacking fault energy curve. The results show that with decreasing distance between the dislocations in all the three types of tilt LAGBs, the stress and strain fields are gradually suppressed. The reduction extent of the stress and strain fields decreases from the prismatic to basal to pyramidal dislocations. The variation of dislocation line energy （DLE） for all tilt LAGBs is divided into three stages： DLE changes slightly and linearly when the distance is larger than 300 A, - 10%; DLE declines exponentially and quickly when the distance goes from 300 to 100 A, ,- 70%; and finally, the descent speed lowers when the distance is smaller than 100 A and the dislocation core energy is nearly half of the DLE. The grain boundary energy （GBE） decreases when the tilt angle of LAGB increases from1 ° to 2° for all cases. The tilt LAGB consists of pyramidal dislocations always has the largest GBE, while that with array of prismatic dislo- cations has the smallest one in the whole range. The Peierls stress of dislocation in tilt LAGB is nearly unchanged, the same as that of single dislocation. This work is useful for further study of dissociated dislocation, solute segregation, precipitate nucleation in tilt LAGB and its interaction with single dislocations.
