“In situ” neutron small-angle scattering experiments during the decomposition by nucleation and growth at 133 °C of the Al-6.8 at% Zn alloy are described. In the very small angle domain (Q < 10−2 Å−1) where X-ray measurements are difficult, the neutron scattering shows a plateau after long ageing times. This plateau is due to an interference effect between precipitates with a not completely random spatial distribution. The scattering is quantitatively explained on the basis of hard sphere pair correlation function. It appears therefore that the only presence of scattering ring cannot characterize the spinodal decomposition as it has been sometimes assumed.
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Laslaz et al. (1977) studied this question.