Thermal analysis techniques remain important tools amongst the large variety of methods used for analysis of the precipitation and dissolution of the Guinier-Preston zone and metastable phase θ' in Al-3wt% Cu. In the present study, the kinetics of precipitation and dissolution of the Guinier-Preston zone and metastable phase θ' in Al-3wt% Cu was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry carried out between room temperature and 430°C at heating rates of 20, 25, and 30°C min¯¹. The activation energies evaluated through isothermal differential scanning calorimetry treatment using the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami theory were 25, 100, and 80 kJ mol¯¹ for the Guinier-Preston zone precipitation, formation of θ'/θ and dissolution of θ', respectively. The Avrami constant n obtained by the Ligero method was about 1.5 for the formation of θ'/θ indicating that bulk nucleation is dominant in θ'/θ formation controlled by diffusion from a constant number of nuclei.
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