Effect of Homogenization Temperature on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 3003 Aluminum Alloys

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00257

Acta Metall Sin

2026, Vol. 62

Issue (9): 1503-1516 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00257

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Effect of Homogenization Temperature on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 3003 Aluminum Alloys

LIU Zetian¹^,², LU Weizhao¹, XU Xinyu¹(

), LIU Xu¹, ZHANG Shaoyou¹, WANG Huiyuan¹^,³(

)

1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
2 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot 010051, China
3 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China

Cite this article:

LIU Zetian, LU Weizhao, XU Xinyu, LIU Xu, ZHANG Shaoyou, WANG Huiyuan. Effect of Homogenization Temperature on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 3003 Aluminum Alloys. Acta Metall Sin, 2026, 62(9): 1503-1516.

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Abstract

To enhance the poor mechanical properties of 3003 aluminum alloys, their solidification behavior as well as the effect of the homogenization temperature on their microstructure and mechanical properties were systematically investigated based on thermodynamic simulations, SEM, EBSD, and TEM. The results showed that during the solidification of 3003 aluminum alloys, the formation and growth of eutectic α-AlMnFeSi are mainly governed by the Mn content in the melt. Furthermore, during the homogenization process, the precipitate size and distribution as well as the average width of the precipitate-free zones at the grain boundaries are strongly affected by the homogenization temperature, which impacts the mechanical properties of the alloys. Homogenization at (555 ± 5) °C resulted in a higher precipitate volume fraction and smaller precipitate size, considerably enhancing the yield strength of the annealed and work-hardened 3003 aluminum alloys. In particular, the yield strength of the 3003 aluminum alloys homogenized at (555 ± 5) °C was 16-21 MPa higher than those of the alloys homogenized at (600 ± 5) °C.

Key words: Al-Mn aluminum alloy homogenization heat treatment work hardening microstructure mechanical property

Received: 14 August 2024

ZTFLH:

TG146.2

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52261015);Inner Mongolia Natural Science Foundation(2022QN05005);Basic Scientific Research Expenses Program of Universities directly under Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region(JY20220109);Science Research Project of Hebei Education Department(BJK2024023);Science Research Project of Hebei Education Department(BJK2024061)

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	LIU Zetian
	LU Weizhao
	XU Xinyu
	LIU Xu
	ZHANG Shaoyou
	WANG Huiyuan

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00257 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2026/V62/I9/1503

Fig.1 Schematic of fabrication processes for the samples

Fig.2 SEM-BSE images of samples at different states (a, c, e) and corresponding locally magnified images of the boxes areas (b, d, f) of 3003 aluminum alloy (a, b) as-cast (c, d) homogenization heat treated under (555 ± 5) ^oC (The sample is marked by LT) (e, f) homogenization heat treated under (600 ± 5) ^oC (The sample is marked by HT)

Fig.3 TEM images (a, b) and corresponding EDS results (c, d) of 3003 aluminum alloy (a, c) LT sample (b, d) HT sample

Fig.4 TEM characterization of the LT sample
(a) bright field TEM image of matrix and precipitates (PB—phase boundary)
(b) HRTEM image of selected area in Fig.4a
(c-h) fast Fourier transform (FFT) (c, e, g) and inverse FFT (IFFT) (d, f, h) images of area A (c, d), area B (e, f), and area C (g, h) in Fig.4b
(i) IFFT of area C in Fig.4b filtered by the coincident reflections of (

2 ¯ 00

)_Al and (

5 2 ¯ 3 ¯

) _α

Table 1 Results and calculation parameters of precipitate characteristics in the LT and HT samples

Fig.5 EBSD inverse pole figures of LT sample (a, c, e) and HT sample (b, d, f) treated with different processes (TD—transverse direction, RD—rolling direction) (a, b) hot rolled (c, d) annealed at 450 ^oC (e, f) annealed samples being stretched by 13% at room temperature

Fig.6 Geometric necessary dislocation maps corresponding to EBSD maps in Fig.5a-f, respectively (a, b) hot rolled (c, d) annealed at 450 ^oC (e, f) annealed samples being stretched by 13% at room temperature

Fig.7 Engineering stress-strain curves of samples under various states
(a) hot rolled samples (b) annealed samples at 450 ^oC
(c, d) LT (c) and HT (d) annealed samples being stretched by 4%, 7%, 10%, and 13% at room temperature

Table 2 Mechanical properties of LT and HT specimens at various states

Fig.8 Solidification path of 3003 alloys in Scheil approximation (L—liquid) (a); evolution of solute partition coefficients (k_i, i = Mn, Cu, Si, and Fe, the same below) (b) and solute concentrations (w_i ) in fcc phases (c) with solid fraction calculated by Pandat software; the casting microstructure (d) and EDS results of Mn (e), Cu (f), Si (g), and Fe (h) along the line in Fig.8d

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