The isothermal aging of beta phase in some CuZnAl of adequate composition, promotes the nucleation of a gamma phase that then grow by means of a diffusion controlled process. In the first stages the morphology is spherical and cuboidal, but it develops to more complex geometries such as a laminar growth or dendrites, as a result of the competition between the solute fields and the reactions at the interface. Crystalline anisotropy and coherence at the matrix-precipitate interface have to be taken into account to explain faceted and dendritic morphologies during the growth. In this work, the dendritic gamma precipitation obtained by an isothermal heat treatment of a beta matrix is characterized, and compared with theoretical predictions.
CuZnAl alloys; precipitation; dendritic morphology
