Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S79831/01
Title:	Modelling Heterogeneous Precipitate Distributions in Complex Alloys
Principal Investigator:	Robson, Professor J
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	Airbus Operations Limited Alcoa
Department:	Materials
Organisation:	University of Manchester, The
Scheme:	First Grant Scheme Pre-FEC
Starts:	19 April 2004	Ends:	31 March 2005	Value (£):	103,000
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Aerospace, Defence and Marine Manufacturing
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The property's of many industrially important alloys depend critically on the distribution of small second phase precipitate particles within the structure. These precipitates evolve as the alloy is exposed to heat and deformation during processing and service. It has been a long-standing goal in metallurgy to produce process models for industrial alloy systems, capable of relating composition and process conditions to the resultant structure and property's. The most promising models for industrial application are based on a consideration of features on the microstructural (nanometer to micron) scale.Although there has been considerable success in developing microstructure based process models for industrial alloy systems, there remains a major outstanding challenge; predicting microstructures in which the particles are heterogeneous in their spatial distribution. Such distributions arise when precipitation takes place preferentially at special low energy sites. Heterogeneous precipitation is particularly common during continuous cooling and welding. The prediction of heterogeneity's is important, since they play a key role in controlling critical properties such as fracture toughness and fatigue resistance.The aim of this project is to develop a microstructure model for predicting heterogeneous precipitate distributions, suitable for use in industrial process modelling. This will be achieved by coupling a new model for precipitate evolution to a novel framework that represents the spatial distribution of precipitation sites. The model will be tested for an industrially important application; predicting precipitate distributions in a high strength aluminium alloy. However, the model will also have widespread application in many other alloy systems.Key words: Metals and alloys: modelling, Metals and alloys: processing
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Organisation Website:	http://www.man.ac.uk