The use of acoustic emission techniques to monitor fracture processes in high strength precipitation hardened aluminum alloys

The ductile fracture of dispersion hardened aluminum alloy containing brittle intermetallic inclusions is briefly reviewed. The effect of the size, distribution and chemical composition of the inclusions in affecting the matrix fracture behavior is discussed.The potential of acoustic emission techniques in being able to discriminate between different microstructures produced by various thermomechanical treatment is emphasized. It is shown that processes that affect dislocation motion, i.e., cold work, precipitation, solute atom diffusion, etc., also affect the acoustic response, thus making the AE technique extremely useful for the study of flow and fracture behavior of aluminum alloys.