The present study employs in-situ high-energy X-ray diffraction (HEXRD) to investigate the β-AlFeSi→α-Al(Fe,Mn)Si transformation in a 6063 Al alloy during homogenization heat treatment. The characteristics of HEXRD,combined with the experimental setup, enable an evaluation of the evolution of individual diffraction peaks as afunction of temperature and time. The diffraction intensity evolution is then used to quantify the transformationinto phase fractions using the reference intensity ratio (RIR) method. The β-AlFeSi→α-Al(Fe,Mn)Si transformationis measured at the homogenization temperatures: 540, 550, 560, 570, 580, 590, and 600 ◦C. Inaddition, three heating rates (4, 50, 100 ◦C/min) are studied to observe the influence of the heating stage on thetransformation onset. The growth of α at the expense of β dissolution is faster at higher temperatures, and islimited by the diffusion of Mn. At the same time, during the heating ramp, the evolution of α and β fractionsindicates a two-stage transformation, characterized by different growth rates of α.
Arango et al. (2025) studied this question.