Improvement of Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance by Deformation Induced Precipitation in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy

A final thermomechanical treatment (FTMT) including peak aging and subsequent dynamic aging was proposed to prepare 7055 Al alloy sheets. The optimization was based on nine well-planned orthogonal experiments. Three main processing conditions in the thermomechanical treatment for obtaining the optimum synthetic properties of 7055 (i.e. preheating temperature, final rolling temperature and deformation degree) were investigated. It was shown that the final rolling temperature is the most important factor among the three parameters, and the optimum properties (yield strength: 651 MPa, ultimate tensile strength: 660 MPa) of 7055 Al alloy sheet can be gained with preheating at 140oC and 40% deformation at 170oC. With dynamic aging, grain boundary precipitates became discontinuous without much coarsening of matrix precipitates, while they were continuously distributed after T6 aging. The present optimal FTMT process can improve the intergranular / exfoliation corrosion resistance without sacrificing the strength compared to T6 tempering. The present FTMT process as a good alternative can produce high-strength Al alloy sheets with high strength and good corrosion resistance efficiently and economically.