Modeling and simulation of constituent particle clustering and distribution in rolled aluminum alloys

It is recognized that corrosion damage in aluminum alloys is the direct result of local galvanic coupling between constituent particles and the metal matrix. Heavily clustered groups of constituent particles have been shown to form the most severe corrosion pits, and the morphology of these pits has been found to exhibit a strong correlation with that of the instigating particle cluster. To predict damage evolution accurately in three dimensions, the spatial distribution of the constituent particles in a given material must be quantified. The tomographic reconstruction methods currently available are time consuming and possess characteristic length scales that are insufficient for large-scale corrosion studies. To accommodate this larger length scale, a model for three-dimensional constituent particle microstructure is proposed. This model employs a fusion of classic stereological techniques and qualitative observations to describe the constituent particle microstructure of rolled aluminum alloys in three dimensions. A method is described for generating statistically representative three-dimensional constituent particle microstructure from two-dimensional orthogonal cross sections. This novel simulation algorithm allows for detailed three-dimensional particle microstructure simulations to be carried out using standard optical microscopy and image analysis techniques