Three Point Bend Performance of Solutionized, Die Quenched and Heat Treated AA7075 Beam Members

To overcome the low room temperature formability of AA7075-T6 aluminum sheet, without sacrificing the high strength properties of this alloy, a hat section beam member was formed and quenched within a cold die immediately after a 20 minute solutionizing treatment. Natural aging for 24 hours followed the forming process which was then followed by various heat treatments that included a typical precipitation hardening (PH) and industrial paint bake (PB) temperature-time treatment. Tensile specimens were extracted from the beams to evaluate their mechanical properties. When compared to the as-received AA7075-T6 mechanical properties, the beams heat treated with the PH, PHPB and PB treatment resulted in a 5%, 13% and 20% reduction in ultimate tensile strength respectively. A similar trend was shown for the yield strength measurements. There was little effect of the heat treatments on the total elongation, with the PH condition showing a slight improvement. A backing plate was riveted to the beams and a quasi-static 3 point bend test was conducted to evaluate the crush performance. The peak load for the PH, PHPB and PB beams was 9.2, 8.5 and 7.3 kN respectively, but the calculated energy-displacement (or energy absorption) curves were similar for the PH and PHPB parts due to a more ductile fracture behavior for the PHPB material condition.