Evolution of intermetallics, dispersoids and elevated-temperature properties at various Fe contents in Al-Mn-Mg 3004 alloys

Nowadays, great interests are rising on aluminum alloys for the applications at elevated temperature, driven by the automotive and aerospace industries requiring high strength, light weight and low cost engineering materials. As one of the most promising candidates, Al-Mn-Mg 3004 alloys have been found to possess considerably high mechanical properties and creep resistance at elevated temperature resulted from the precipitation of a large number of thermally stable dispersoids during heat treatment. In present work, the effect of Fe contents on the evolution of microstructure as well as high temperature properties of 3004 alloys has been investigated. Results show that the dominant intermetallic changes from α-Al(MnFe)Si at 0.1 wt. % Fe to Al6(MnFe) at both 0.3 and 0.6 wt. % Fe. In the Fe range of 0.1 to 0.6 wt. % studied, a significant improvement on mechanical properties at elevated temperature has been observed due to the precipitation of dispersoids, and the best combination of yield strength and creep resistance at 573K (300°C) is obtained in the 0.3% Fe alloy with finest size and highest volume fraction of dispersoids. The superior properties obtained at 573K (300°C) makes 3004 alloys more promising for high temperature applications. The relationship between the Fe content and the dispersoid precipitation as well as the materials properties has been discussed

Correlation between Electrical Resistivity, Particle Dissolution, Precipitation of Dispersoids, and Recrystallization Behavior of AA7020 Aluminum Alloy

This research concerns the effect of homogenization treatment on the electrical resistivity of AA7020 aluminum alloy variants with different Zr and Cr contents. Small changes in the Zr and Cr contents of the as-cast alloy increase the electrical resistivity significantly. After employing various homogenization treatments, the electrical resistivity decreases, which is due to the depletion of Zr, Cr, and Mn in the matrix, by forming small dispersoids. The optimum treatment proposed in order to obtain the smallest recrystallized grains is to hold the material at 550 °C for 24 hours, which results in the lowest electrical resistivity. The viability of the proposed treatment was tested through hot compression tests and static annealing. Indeed, the samples homogenized at 550 °C for 24 hours showed the smallest recrystallized grains compared to those homogenized at other temperatures.Materials Science and EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

Effect of the size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles on the Zener drag pressure

In this article, a new relationship for the calculation of the Zener drag pressure is described in which the effect of the size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles is taken into account, in addition to particle radius and volume fraction, which have been incorporated in the existing relationships. Microstructural observations indicated a clear correlation between the size distribution of dispersed particles and recrystallized grain sizes in the AA7020 aluminum alloy. However, the existing relationship to calculate the Zener drag pressure yielded a negligible difference of 0.016 pct between the two structures homogenized at different conditions resulting in totally different size distributions of nanoscale dispersed particles and, consequently, recrystallized grain sizes. The difference in the Zener drag pressure calculated by the application of the new relationship was 5.1 pct, being in line with the experimental observations of the recrystallized grain sizes. Mathematical investigations showed that the ratio of the Zener drag pressure from the new equation to that from the existing equation is maximized when the number densities of all the particles with different sizes are equal. This finding indicates that in the two structures with identical parameters except the size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles, the one that possesses a broader size distribution of particles, i.e., the number densities of particles with different sizes being equal, gives rise to a larger Zener drag pressure than that having a narrow size distribution of nanoscale dispersed particles, i.e., most of the particles being in the same size range.Materials Science and EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin