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Acta Metall Sin  2021, Vol. 57 Issue (3): 353-362    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00328
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Precipitation Strengthening Model of AA 7055 Aluminium Alloy
CHEN Junzhou1,2(), LV Liangxing3, ZHEN Liang3, DAI Shenglong1,2
1.AECC Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing 100095, China
2.Beijing Engineering Research Center of Advanced Aluminum Alloys and Applications, Beijing 100095, China
3.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Cite this article: 

CHEN Junzhou, LV Liangxing, ZHEN Liang, DAI Shenglong. Precipitation Strengthening Model of AA 7055 Aluminium Alloy. Acta Metall Sin, 2021, 57(3): 353-362.

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Abstract  

AA 7055 aluminium alloy has been widely applied in aviation and aerospace applications, especially after T7751 heat treatment, owing to its excellent properties, such as high strength and good stress corrosion and fatigue resistances. For 7XXX aluminium alloys, aging hardening is the main strengthening mechanism, and the hardening effect is determined by the microstructural features of precipitates including morphology, composition, volume fraction, nucleation density, and size distribution. To further improve the property of alloy and expand the breadth of applications, establishing a precise predictive model regarding strength performance associated with the precipitates is necessary. In this work, based on the quantitative results of the precipitates obtained using small angle X-ray scattering techniques, the strengthening models of AA 7055 Al alloys aged at 120 and 160oC were investigated. Precipitation kinetics show that at the early stages of aging, the evolution of radius and the half thickness of plate-like precipitates are both linear with t1/2 (t means the aging time). Conversely, at the later stages of aging, they are linear with t1/3. The evolution of the volume fraction of the precipitates follows a JMA (Johnson-Mehl-Avrami)-type equation. Strength contributions from both GPI zones and η' precipitates are considered. Moreover, strengthening modeling considered both the modulus and coherency strain strengthening mechanisms of these two kinds of precipitates that had been built for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 120 and 160oC. Therefore, yield strength during aging can be predicted.

Key words:  AA 7055 aluminium alloy      aging precipitation      strengthening model     
Received:  26 August 2020     
ZTFLH:  TG146.2  

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00328     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2021/V57/I3/353

Fig.1  Schematic of tensile samples (unit: mm)
Fig.2  Diagrams of r2 and h2vs aging time (t) for the AA 7055 Al alloy (r—radius of precipitate, h—half thickness of precipitate)
Fig.3  Diagrams of r3 and h3vst for the AA 7055 Al alloy
Fig.4  Evolutions of volume fraction of precipitates (fp)vs t for the AA 7055 Al alloy during aging
Fig.5  Yield strength from the experiment compared with the predicted value using over-aged model (Eq.(40)) for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 160oC
Fig.6  Evolution of the volume fraction of GPI zones (fGPI) for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 160oC for different time
Fig.7  Contributions of various precipitates to the yield strength for the under-aged AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 160oC
Fig.8  Yield strength from the experiment compared with the predicted value using under-aged model (Eq.(42)) for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 160oC
Fig.9  Yield strength from the experiment compared with the model predicted (Eq.(43)) for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 160oC
Fig.10  Yield strength from the experiment compared with the predicted value using over-aged model (Eq.(40)) for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 120oC
ParameterValueData source
Taylor factor M3.06Present model
Coherency strain for η'εη'0.0133Present model
Coherency strain for GPI εGPI0.0025Present model
Constant depends on the precipitation κ3.2Present model
Maximum volume fraction of whole precipitation fmax0.1035Ref.[13]
Maximum volume fraction of the GPI zone fmax,?GPI0.025Present model
Shear modulus G27 GPaRef.[25]
Shear modulus between the η' and matrix ΔEη'0.7 GPaRef.[26]
Shear modulus between the GPI zones and matrix ΔEGPI1.5 GPaPresent model
Inherent strength of Al σi15.7 MPaRef.[27]
Grain boundary strengthening value ΔσGB22 MPaPresent model
Constant depends on the solute atoms C3237.5 MPaPresent model
Magnitude of the Burgers vector b0.286 nmRef.[25]
Table 1  Summaries of input data using under-aged model for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 120oC
Fig.11  Evolution of the fGPI for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 120oC
Fig.12  Contributions of various precipitates to the yield strength for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 120oC
Fig.13  Yield strength from the experiment compared with the predicted value using under-aged model (Eq.(46)) for the AA 7055 Al alloy aged at 120oC
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