Experimental and theoretical investigation of the scaled structure function in AlLi alloys

Through the use of small angle X-ray scattering the late time, scaled structure function was measured in several AlLi alloy samples. The small misfit strain between the Al rich matrix and the metastable Al3Li precipitates renders this system ideal for an accurate test of coarsening theories which include the effect of spatial correlations between particles. The breadth of the scaled structure function, measured by the full width at half maximum, vs the equilibrium volume fraction agrees very well with the computer simulation of Akaiwa and Voorhees. In addition, the scaled structure function based on the Marder theory is derived and shown to be much broader than the experimental results.