7. Conclusion

Thanks to the possibilities offered by increasingly effective physical and structural investigation techniques, precipitation hardening of aluminum alloys is now well characterized in terms of qualitative knowledge of simple precipitation sequences and even complex co-precipitation systems in most polyconstituted alloys of industrial or, a fortiori, laboratory interest, whether conventional cast alloys, wrought alloys or alloys produced by continuous or semi-continuous casting.

Germination, growth and coalescence models can be used to account for the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the various precipitation stages, from the formation of Guinier-Preston zones to equilibrium precipitates in most aluminum alloy systems. The contribution of solid-state physics, in particular dislocation theory, has already made it possible to model the mechanical effects of structural...