Wrought aluminum alloys are an attractive option in the quest for lightweight, recyclable, structural materials. Modern wrought aluminum alloys depend on control of complex microstructures to obtain their properties. This requires an understanding of the coupling between alloy composition, processing, and microstructure. This paper summarizes recent work to understand microstructural evolution in such alloys, utilizing the advanced characterization techniques now available such as atom probe tomography, high-resolution electron microscopy, and synchrotron X-ray diffraction and scattering. New insights into precipitation processes, deformation behavior, and texture evolution are discussed. Recent progress in predicting microstructural evolution using computer modeling is also summarized.

锻造铝合金是寻求轻质，可回收利用的结构材料的一种有吸引力的选择。现代的锻造铝合金依靠控制复杂的微观结构来获得其性能。这需要了解合金成分，工艺和微观结构之间的耦合。本文总结了利用当前可用的先进表征技术（例如原子探针层析成像，高分辨率电子显微镜以及同步加速器X射线衍射和散射）来理解此类合金的微观结构演变的最新工作。讨论了对沉淀过程，变形行为和纹理演化的新见解。还总结了使用计算机模型预测微结构演变的最新进展。