Mechanical Properties and Microstructure Evolution of Typical Over-Aging State Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy during Thermal Exposure

Abstract

Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy have been widely used in aerospace industry. However, there is still a lack of research on thermal stability of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy products. In the present work, an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy with T79 and T74 states was placed in the corresponding environment for thermal exposure experiments. Performance was measured by tensile strength, hardness and electrical conductivity. In this paper, precipitation observation was analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM). The precipitations of T79 state alloy were GPⅡ zone, η' phase and η phase while the ultimate tensile strength, hardness and electrical conductivity were 571MPa, 188.2HV and 22.2MS×m-1, respectively. The mechanical property of T79 state alloy decreased to 530MPa and 168.5HV after thermal exposure. The diameter of precipitate increased and the precipitations become η' and η phase at the same time. During the entire thermal exposure, T74 state alloy had the same mechanical property trend as T79 state alloy. The precipitate diameter also increased while the types of precipitate did not change under thermal exposure. The size of precipitates affected the choice of dislocation passing through the particles to affect the mechanical properties.