One usual way to strengthen a metal is to add alloying elements and to
control the size and the density of the precipitates obtained. However,
precipitation in multicomponent alloys can take complex pathways depending on
the relative diffusivity of solute atoms and on the relative driving forces
involved. In Al-Zr-Sc alloys, atomic simulations based on first-principle
calculations combined with various complementary experimental approaches
working at different scales reveal a strongly inhomogeneous structure of the
precipitates: owing to the much faster diffusivity of Sc compared with Zr in
the solid solution, and to the absence of Zr and Sc diffusion inside the
precipitates, the precipitate core is mostly Sc-rich, whereas the external
shell is Zr-rich. This explains previous observations of an enhanced nucleation
rate in Al-Zr-Sc alloys compared with binary Al-Sc alloys, along with much
higher resistance to Ostwald ripening, two features of the utmost importance in
the field of light high-strength materials