Addressing the strength-ductility trade-off in a cast Al-Li-Cu alloy—Synergistic effect of Sc-alloying and optimized artificial ageing scheme

A dramatic improvement of strength and ductility of cast Al-2.5Li-1.5Cu-1Zn-0.5Mg-0.15 Zr alloy was obtained by the collaboration of Sc-alloying and optimized ageing scheme.Joint and independent influence of Sc-alloying and different ageing temperatures were investigated.The results revealed that a substantial increase was realized in the hardness of Sc-containing alloy,and the ageing response time was only influenced by ageing temperature.Coarse and heterogeneousδ'(Al_(3)Li),wideδ'-precipitation free zones(δ'-PFZs),and a large amount of T_(1)(Al_(2)CuLi)precipitates were observed in Sc-containing alloy aged at 175℃,which resulted in superior yield strength and poor elongation.The Sc-containing alloy obtained an excellent combination of ductility(elongation=8.2%)and tensile strength(ultimate strength=565 MPa)suffered to 150℃ ageing for 64 h.The increase in the elongation was mainly due to the combined effect of grain refining,much finerδ',and extremely narrowδ'-PFZs(<10 nm),while the higher strength was mainly attributed to the formation of Al_(3)(Sc,Zr,Li)composite particles and a large amount of S'(Al_(2)CuMg)phase.However,the enhancement of the different ageing temperature(150℃ and 175℃)on the mechanical properties of the alloys without Sc addition was not obvious.

Effect of Different Ageing Processes on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cast Al–3Li–2Cu–0.2Zr Alloy

The effect of different ageing processes on microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Al–3 Li–2 Cu–0.2 Zr alloy was investigated using transmission electron microscopy and tensile tests. The results showed that the mean size of δ′-Al3 Li particles and the number density of Cu-rich precipitates both increased with increasing ageing temperature from 150 to 190 °C for 24 h, resulting in increasingly high strength. In contrast, the ductility deteriorated with the increase in ageing temperature as a result of the intensified planar slip. The duplex low-to-high ageing treatment(120 °C for 6 h followed by 160 °C for 24 h) was shown to be beneficial to the ductility compared with the corresponding single-stage ageing treatment(160 °C for 24 h). The reduced slip length induced by the precipitation of θ′-Al 2 Cu phases was found to be mainly responsible for this ductility improvement.