Papers by Keyword: Al-Zn-Mg

Abstract: Al 7xxx alloy is a heat treatable Al alloy with superior strength. Solution treatment in precipitation hardening sequence of the alloy has an important role to dissolve second phases and bring vacancies out to form precipitates in the ageing process. Another strengthening can be done by Ti addition as grain refiner. As cast alloy by squeeze casting was homogenized at 400 °C for 4 h. Solution treatment was conducted at 220, 420, and 490 °C, followed by rapid quenching. Subsequent ageing was conducted at 130 °C for 48 h. Characterization was performed by optical microscope, SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscopy – Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), Rockwell hardness testing, XRD (X-Ray Diffraction), and STA (Simultaneous Thermal Analysis). Ti added alloy showed rounder grains, lower hardness, and more reduction in second phase volume fraction along with increasing solution treatment temperature than those in alloys without Ti addition. Otherwise, the alloy final hardness was increasing and higher after the ageing process due to higher second phase dissolution which leads to more precipitates formed.

Abstract: Al-Zn-Mg alloys are widely used construct material for wide range of application including automotive industry, building, and aviation. Scandium is rare earth metal, which modifies structure of semi-products and can lead to increasing of tensile and yield strength because of Al₃Sc intermetallics of nanoscale size. This paper describes results of influence of small addition of scandium (0,08 wt. %) on mechanical and corrosion properties of cold-rolled sheets of 1913 alloy. 1913 is Russian medium strength corrosion resistant weldable Al-Zn-Mg alloy with addition of Cu for improvement of stress corrosion resistance and Mn with Zr for structure improvement. It is shown that addition of Sc transforms kinetics of artificial aging and accelerates decomposition of solid solution, besides tensile strength increases up to 50 MPa in artificially aged tempers. Changes in microstructure and quench sensitivity are described; results of intergranural corrosion, exfoliation and stress corrosion tests are introduced after different heat treatment including peak strength aging and overaging tempers.

Abstract: It is well know that the 7000 series Al-Zn-Mg alloy has good age hardening ability and high strength among commercial aluminum alloys. In this study, hardness measurement, tensile test, SEM and TEM observation have been performed in order to understand the effect of the Zn/Mg ratio on age hardening behaviour in Al-Zn-Mg alloys. It was seen from hardness measurement that the peak hardness increased with increasing amount of Zn and Mg. Tensile tests were performed for the samples of peak aged condition. It was seen that UTS increased with increasing amount of the Zn and Mg. The elongation decreased with increasing the amount of the Zn and Mg. Intregranular fracture was observed in alloys with low amount of Zn and Mg.Transgranular fracture was observed with high amount of Zn and Mg alloy. TEM observation was performed for peak aged samples. The size of precipitates became finer and the number density increased with increasing Zn and Mg contents.T’ Phase and h₁ phase were observed in low Zn/Mg alloy. The h’ phase was observed in high Zn/Mg alloy.

Abstract: The high-strength weldable 7xxx series of aluminium alloys are of great importance to the aeronautics industry. Only recently, the complex structures of the AlZnMg hardening precipitates have been solved by HAADFSTEM imaging and first-principles calculations. However, perfect models of precipitate structures are often insufficient as several elements may be mixed into precipitate compositions. We have investigated this effect by STEMEELS spectrum imaging with an aberration-corrected microscope. In a 7449 alloy, Cu and Al were found to replace atoms at certain sites in both metastable and equilibrium ZnMg precipitates.

Abstract: 7000 System Al has been known as one of the aluminum alloys with the good age hardening ability and the high strength among commercial aluminum alloys. [1]In this study, hardness measurement, tensile test, SEM observation and TEM observation have been performed in order to understand the effect of Zn/Mg ratio on age hardening behaviour in Al-Zn-Mg alloys . It can be seen from hardness measurement that the alloy containing higher Zn and Mg contents became hard. Tensile test was performed for the samples of peak aged condition. It can been seen that the alloy containing higher Zn and Mg increases the tensile strength of the alloy though decrease of the elongation were observed a typical intergranular fracture. TEM observation was performed for peak aged samples. The size of precipitates became finer and the number density increased with increasing Zn and Mg contents.

Abstract: In this study, the effect of various solution and aging treatments on microstructure and mechanical properties of an as cast Al-5.5Zn-1.2Mg alloy has been investigated by optical microscopy, hardness measurements and room temperature tensile test. The solution heat treatments performed at temperatures between 400 and 490°C have little effects on hardness while electrical conductivity values increased at the lower temperature because of dissolved atoms and vacancy rich clusters. Concerning aging, only T6 improves mechanical properties of the undeformed alloy, while aging performed on tensile tested samples results in a decrease of hardness due to accelerated kinetics and heterogeneous nucleation of equilibrium phase stimulated by dislocation network. Tensile tested samples of the as cast alloy exhibits the fastest recrystallization time during annealing because of the absence of fine precipitates and the high strain hardening.

Abstract: Impact properties and fatigue crack growth behavior of a newly developed Al-Zn-Mg functionally graded material (FGM) is studied. The gradient in terms of hardness (about 85 to 130 VHN) and yield strength (about 260 to 360 MPa) is established along the width of the Charpy-impact and Compact Tension specimens. In both these test specimens two types of FGMs, depending on the direction of crack propagation, are produced. In the first case, FGM-I, the notched surface is made harder and the hardness value decreases towards the other surface in the direction of crack growth. In the second case, FGM-II, the hardness gradient is reversed and the crack propagation takes place from the softer side to the harder side. The impact and fatigue crack growth experiments are also carried out for the homogeneous materials with different hardness values and the results obtained from the FGMs are compared with them. The results of impact tests show that FGM-II absorbs about 20% greater energy than the highest energy absorbed by any of the isothermally aged homogeneous materials. Fatigue crack growth studies for the FGM-I show a reduction in crack growth rate as the crack propagates towards softer (ductile) side and finally crack arrest is observed. On the other hand, for the case of FGM-II, where the crack propagates towards the harder side, the crack growth rate first increases and then decreases. However, in this case the crack follows a tortuous path and it starts bending upwards after about 20 mm crack length, which might be responsible for higher energy absorption in impact tests.

Abstract: This paper presents a detailed study of the microstructure and mechanical properties of AA7449 alloy during the two step heat treatment leading to the industrial T7651 temper. It is first shown that reproducing the heat treatment without a deformation step as used in the T7651 industrial temper leads to 2-fold decrease of the precipitation kinetics due to the absence of dislocations, while the resulting mechanical properties (if this change in kinetics is accounted for) are very similar. The work hardening rate is shown to strongly evolve during the heat treatment, and this evolution has been correlated to the evolution of microstructure using a Kocks-Mecking-Estrin analysis. Finally, an analysis in terms of activation volume of the strain rate sensitivity allows for the determination of the dislocation / precipitate interaction in the overaged temper.

Abstract: The effects of temperature and strain rate on the mechanical properties of aluminium alloy AA7030 (Al-5.4Zn-1.2Mg) in naturally aged and peak aged condition are investigated, with emphasis on the relation to dynamic strain ageing. It is found that the naturally aged material shows more severe signs of dynamic strain ageing, including inverse strain rate and temperature dependence of flow stress, inverse temperature dependence of the ductility and serrated yielding. The peak aged material also shows signs of dynamic strain ageing, but to a lesser extent, most pronounced through serrated yielding. The observed effects can be qualitatively explained in terms of a thermal activation based model for dislocation glide. Furthermore, inhomogeneous deformation is observed on several size scales ranging from localized glide bands to surface deformation effects (orange peel surface) and macroscopic flow localization in shear bands.

Abstract: During age-hardening of certain Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys, a 90% hardness increase can occur with 75 seconds. The clustering and precipitation of solute element species during this early rapid hardening (RH) period has been investigated through atom probe tomography, transmission electron microscopy, and Vickers hardness measurements. This study has focussed on the effect of copper by analysing three alloys; Al-2.0Zn-1.8Mg-0.7Cu, Al-2.0Zn-1.7Mg-0.2Cu and Al-1.9Zn-1.7Mg (at.%). The early RH reaction in these alloys accounts for up to 70% of the total hardening (peak hardness minus as-quenched hardness) and takes place during the first 60 seconds of ageing. We report preferred solute-solute interactions in the as-quenched materials. This quenched-in nanostructure acts as a template for subsequent solute clustering, the nature of which we have correlated with ageing.