Superplastic properties of an Al2.4Mg1.8Li0.5Sc alloy

Abstract

There is a need in the aerospace industry for structural, superplastic aluminum alloys that are formable at strain-rates greater than 10[sup [minus]3] s[sup [minus]1] in order for the economic benefits of superplastic forming to be realized. The standard, structural, superplastic aluminum alloy in the aerospace industry is 7475, which has an optimum forming strain-rate near 10[sup [minus]4] s[sup [minus]1]. Thus, research has been focused on modifying the microstructures of wrought Al-Li alloys such as 2090 and 8090 into superplastically formable (SPF) microstructures with improved properties, but the results have not been completely successful. Superplastic alloys with high strengths have been produced from the Al-Mg-Sc system. These alloys are strengthened by thermomechanical processing which (1) precipitates small, coherent Al[sub 3]Sc particles and (2) increases the dislocation density of the material. The Mg is in solid solution and improves the work hardening capability of these alloys. Because superplastic forming is carried out at relatively high temperatures, recovery processes eliminate the dislocation strengthening resulting from the rolling and overage the precipitates. Thus, additional precipitation strengthening is required to make these alloys attractive for use in aerospace applications. Lithium provides the most promising choice since it forms the ordered coherent precipitate [delta][prime] (Al[sub 3]Li),more » lowers the density, and increases the stiffness of aluminum alloys. In addition, at low concentrations, Li should be in solution at the SPF temperatures and should have little effect on the superplastic formability of the alloys. This led to research on alloys from the Al-Mg-Li-Sc system. This paper describes the preliminary high-temperature tensile results of an Al-Mg-Li-Sc alloy and relates them to other superplastic Al alloys.« less