Spatiotemporal aspects of the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect in annealed and solution-treated aluminum alloys

By employing the dynamic digital speckle pattern interferometry technique, spatiotemporal aspects of the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect in both annealed and solution-treated Al-4%Cu alloys are investigated. The effect of dynamic strain aging is enhanced in response to increased solute concentration in solution-treated materials. Influence of aging on the critical strain of the PLC effect is also reported. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.