The stress aging behavior of Al-Cu alloy under various applied stresses, i.e., elastic stress, yield stress and plasticdeformation stress, was investigated using single crystals. The resulting microstructures and the yield strength were examined bytransmission electron microscopy （TEM） and compression tests, respectively. The results indicate that an elastic stress of 15 MPa ishigh enough to influence the precipitation distribution of θ′ during aging at 180℃. The applied stress loading along [116]Aldirection results in increased number density of θ′ on （001）Al habit planes. This result becomes more significant with increasingapplied stress and leads to lower yield strength of Al-Cu single crystals during aging. Moreover, the generation of the preferentialorientation of θ′ was discussed by the effect of the dislocation induced by applied stress as well as the role of the misfit between theθ′-precipitate and Al matrix. The results are in agreement with the effect of the latter one.
