Effect of non-isothermal retrogression and re-ageing on through-thickness homogeneity of microstructure and properties of Al-8Zn-2Mg-2Cu alloy thick plate

In order to improve the through-thickness homogeneity and properties of aviation aluminum alloy thick plate.The effect of heating-cooling retrogression and re-ageing on the performance of Al-8Zn-2Mg-2Cu alloy thick plate was investigated by hardness tests, electrical conductivity tests and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) observation.Results revealed that, during retrogression heating, the fine pre-precipitates in surface layer dissolve more and the undissolved η′ or η phases are more coarsened than that of center layer. During slow cooling after retrogression,precipitates continue coarsening but with a lower rate and the secondary precipitation occurs in both layers. Finer precipitates resulting from the secondary precipitation are more in surface. However, the coarsening and secondary precipitation behaviors are restrained in both layers under quick cooling condition. The electrical conductivity and through-thickness homogeneity of precipitates increases while the hardness decreases with cooling rate decreasing. After the optimized non-isothermal retrogression and re-ageing(NRRA) including air-cooling retrogression, the throughthickness homogeneity which is evaluated by integrated retrogression effects has been improved to 94%. The tensile strength, fracture toughness and exfoliation corrosion grade of Al-8Zn-2Mg-2Cu alloy plate is 619 MPa, 24.7 MPa·m^(1/2)and EB, respectively, which indicates that the non-isothermal retrogression and re-aging(NRRA) could improve the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance with higher through-thickness homogeneity.

Microscopic Phase-field Simulation of Effects of Re-ageing Temperature on Precipitation of Ni-Al-Cr Alloys

This article, by means of the ternary microscopic phase-field model, investigates the effects of re-ageing temperature on the precipitation of Ni75Al10Cr15 alloy with the help of atomic pictures, order parameters, particle density, averaged radii, and volume fractions. During pre-ageing at 873 K, DO22 phases first appear through spinodal decomposition mechanism, and then L12 phases begin to form on the DO22 phase-boundaries through non-classical nucleation mechanism. In either of them, ordering process is obviously faster than atom clustering. At the late stage of re-ageing at 923 K, the elastic strain energy seems to exert stronger effects on microstructure, and DO22 and L12 phases exhibit directional alignment along 〈100〉 direction to a certain extent. When the temperature increases to 1 023 K, the influence of elastic strain energy begins to weaken, and the precipitated phases become randomly distributed in the matrix. The volume fraction of DO22 phase decreases to zero, whereas that of L12 phase first increases and then decreases with the temperature rising from 923 K to 1 123 K. On the whole, the effects of elastic strain energy make the coarsening behavior of both phases deviate from the time-law predictions by LSW diffusion-controlled growth theory.

Influence of dual retrogression and re-aging temper on microstructure,strength and exfoliation corrosion behavior of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

Influence of dual retrogression and re-aging（dual-RRA） temper on microstructure,strength and exfoliation corrosion（EC） behavior of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was investigated by hardness measurements,tensile properties tests,exfoliation corrosion tests,transmission electron microscopy（TEM） and scanning electron microscopy（SEM） observation combined energy dispersive X-ray detector（EDX） analysis.Dual-RRA temper maintains the matrix precipitates（MPs） similar to RRA temper,meanwhile obtains coarser and sparser grain boundary precipitates（GBPs） as well as higher Cu and lower Zn content compared with T76 temper.Therefore,dual-RRA temper not only keeps strength equivalent to the RRA temper but also obtains higher EC resistance than T76 temper.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-Sc-Zr alloy after retrogression and re-aging treatments

The mechanical properties and stress corrosion cracking （SCC） resistance of an Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-Sc-Zr alloy under different aging conditions were investigated. The dependence of microstrueture and mechanical properties on aging parameters was evaluated by tensile test, hardness test and conductivity measurement. The results show that for the alloys with retrogression and re-aging treatment （RRA）, the conductivity increases with the retrogression time and temperature, while the tensile strength decreases. The transmission electron microscopy （TEM） results show that the precipitates η（MgZn2） at grain boundary aggregate apparently with retrogression time and the precipitates inside the matrix exhibit the similar distribution to T6 temper, which comprises fine GP zones, large η＇（MgZn2）and η（MgZn2） phases. According to the mechanical properties and microstructure observations, the optimal RRA regime is recommended to be 120℃, 24h ＋ 180 ℃, 30 min ＋ 120 ℃, 24 h. The strength level of the alloy after the optimum RRA treatment is similar to that in T6 condition and the SCC resistance is improved obviously in contrast to T6 condition.

Effect of Pre-Aging, Over-Aging and Re-Aging on Exfoliation Corrosion and Electrochemical Corrosion Behavior of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloys

By means of TEM, hardness, conductivity, tensile strength test, fracture toughness test, polarization curve and EIS, the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys treated by a new multi-stage aging system, i.e. pre-aging, over-aging and re-aging (120°C/24h + 160°C/8h + 120°C/24h), were characterized. It is found that compared with the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys treated by T76 (120°C/24h + 160°C/8h), the new multi-stage aging treatment can improve the tensile strength, fracture toughness, hardness and conductivity of the alloys at the same time. This is mainly due to the pre-aging, over-aging and re-aging process of super high strength aluminum alloys. Compared with the two-stage over aging process, the formation of multi-stage multi-phase precipitation structure can improve the strength, toughness and corrosion resistance of the alloys at the same time. The polarization curve is consistent with the conclusion. Therefore, we conducted this study to test how the comprehensive properties of the alloy can be improved.

Aging precipitation and recrystallization in re-aged copper alloy

Precipitation and recrystallization behavior of the re-aged Cu-Ag-Cr alloy were investigated. The precipitation occurring before the onset of recrystallization in the pre-aging process makes it possible to gain the efficient hardening in re-aging process and the re-aging strengthening effect with pre-aging at 440℃ for 8h is the most remarkable. Pre-aging at 440℃ for 8h, consequent 60% deformation, and re-aging at 350400℃ can be close to optimal aging treatment. In the re-aging process combined with cold deformation in the studied Cu-Ag-Cr alloy, the in-situ recrystallization can be observed to occur, the precipitates are coarsened or dissolved in the front of grain boundaries following a re-precipitation in the recrystallization area.

Heat treatment of 7xxx series aluminium alloys—Some recent developments

The 7xxx series alloys are heat treatable wrought aluminium alloys based on the Al-Zn-Mg（-Cu） system. They are widely used in high-performance structural aerospace and transportation applications. Apart from compositional, casting and thermo-mechanical processing effects, the balance of properties is also significantly influenced by the way in which the materials are heat-treated. This paper describes the effects of homogenisation, solution treatment, quenching and ageing treatments on the evolution of the microstructure and properties of some important medium to high-strength 7xxx alloys. With a focus on recent work at Monash University, where the whole processing route from homogenisation to final ageing has been studied for thick plate products, it is reported how microstructural features such as dispersoids, coarse constituent particles, fine-scale precipitates, grain structure and grain boundary characteristics can be controlled by heat treatment to achieve improved microstructure-property combinations. In particular, the paper presents methods for dissolving unwanted coarse constituent particles by controlled high- temperature treatments, quench sensitivity evaluations based on a systematic study of continuous cooling precipitation behaviour, and ageing investigations of one-, two- and three-step ageing treatments using experimental and modelling approaches, in each case, the effects on both the microstructure and the resulting properties are discussed.

Effects of retrogression heating rate on microstructures and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy 7050

The effects of the retrogression heating rate(340℃/min,57℃/min,4.3℃/min)on the microstructures and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy 7050 were investigated by means of hardness measurement,tensile properties testing,differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)and transmission electron microscopy(TEM).The results show that the retrogression heating rate significantly affects the microstructures and mechanical properties of the alloys treated by retrogression and re-aging(RRA)process, and it is found that the medium rate(57℃/min)leads to the highest mechanical properties.The strengthening phases in the matrix are mainly the fine dispersed η′precipitates and GP zones,and the grain boundary precipitates are coarse and discontinuous η phases.

Structure and Property of AgLaY Alloy

The structure of RE-Ag alloy was observed and analyzed using electron probe. The property changes of the alloy containing two rare earth elements AgLaY during cold forming and the high temperature softening-resistance during annealing were studied using Vickers hardness tester. The distribution and action of the rare earth elements in Ag-alloy were also analyzed. Experimental results show that AgLaY alloy has more remarkable work-hardening effect than AgLa and pure silver, and it also has better thermal-resistance. The effects of RE elements, La and Y, on the properties of Ag-alloy are attributable to their symbiotic distribution and complementary function. Because of the common properties of La and Y as RE elements, they have the completely similar distribution in Ag-alloy. At the same time, La and Y make full use of complementary role in the alloy since they belong to different periods in periodic table and have differences in atomic structure and properties.

Precipitating thermally reinforcement phase in aluminum alloys for enhanced strength at 400℃

Heat-resistant aluminum alloys are widely used in aerospace and automotive fields for manufacturing hot components due to their advantages in lightweight design and energy conservation.However,the high-temperature strength of existing cast aluminum alloys is always limited to about 100 MPa at 350℃due to coarsening and transformation of strengthening phases.Here,we reveal that the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the T6 state Al-8.4Cu-2.3Ce-1.0Mn-0.5Ni-0.2Zr alloy at 400◦C increase by 34%and 44%after re-aging at 300℃for 100 h,and its thermal strength exhibits distinguished ad-vantage over traditional heat-resistant aluminum alloys.The enhanced elevated-temperature strength is attributed to the reprecipitation of the Ni-bearing T-Al_(20)Cu_(2)Mn_(3)phase,whose number density increases over one time.The significant segregation of Ni,Ce,and Zr elements at the interfaces helps improve the thermal stability of the T phase.The thermostable T phase effectively strengthens the matrix by in-hibiting dislocation motion.Meanwhile,a highly interconnected 3D intermetallic network along the grain boundaries can still remain after long-term re-aging at 300℃,which is conducive to imposing a drag on the grain boundaries at high temperatures.This finding offers a viable route for enhancing the elevated-temperature strength of heat-resistant aluminum alloys,which could provide expanded opportunities for higher-temperature applications.

Precipitation behavior and properties of extruded 7136 aluminum alloy under different aging treatments

In this work, the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the extruded 7136 aluminum alloy treated by single-stage aging treatment(T6), retrogression and re-aging treatment(RRA), and multiple retrogression and re-aging treatment have been investigated by means of hardness measurements, electrical conductivity tests and tensile tests. The results have shown that the properties of the 7136 alloy such as hardness, tensile strength and electrical conductivity were sensitive to retrogression time(within 90 min). With prolonging the retrogression time, the tensile strength was enhanced first and then decreased, yet the electrical conductivity was continuously increased. The 60 min-treated alloy performed the highest tensile strength(716 MPa), whereas the 90 min-treated alloy possessed the highest electrical conductivity(33.95%IACS). Compared with the T6-treated alloy, the tensile strength and electrical conductivity were improved by 3.3%and 18.9%, respectively. The electrical conductivity showed an obvious increase with repetitious times of the RRA treatment. After 3 RRA60 treatment, a good combination of tensile strength(705 MPa) and electrical conductivity(33.20%IACS) can be obtained. Compared with the T6 condition, the tensile strength and electrical conductivity were improved by 1.7% and 16.3%, respectively. The mechanism of microstructure evolution under different aging treatments has been discussed in detail.