Rissfortschritts‐ und Ermüdungsverhalten der Aluminiumlegierung EN AW‐6060 nach ECAP und nachgelagerter Wärmebehandlung

Crack growth and high cycle fatigue behaviour of an AA6060 aluminium alloy after ECAP combined with a subsequent heat treatment Crack growth properties of the Al‐Mg‐Si alloy AA6060 as well as the high cycle fatigue behaviour have been investigated after equal‐channel angular pressing (ECAP). In our study, experiments have been conducted on different stages of microstructural breakdown and strain hardening of the material as they were present after different numbers of ECAP passes. A bimodal condition, obtained after two pressings, and a homogeneously ultrafine‐grained condition after eight repetitive pressings have been investigated. Furthermore, optimized conditions with an enhanced ductility, produced by ECAP processing combined with a following short‐time aging treatment were included into the study. Crack growth experiments have been conducted in the near‐threshold regime and the region of stable crack growth, covering a range of load ratios from R = 0.1 up to 0.7. It was found that the lowered fatigue threshold ΔK_th of the as‐extruded material can be enhanced by the combination of ECAP and short‐time aging, owing to the increased ductility and strain hardening capability of this material. By means of SEM investigations and tensile tests, the crack growth properties of the different conditions were related to microstructural and mechanical features. In fatigue tests, load reversals up to failure and the fatigue limit for an as‐extruded condition and an optimized condition after two ECAP‐passes have been compared to the coarse grained initial condition and a remarkable increase in fatigue strength was noted.     

Spray formed and rolled aluminium‐magnesium‐scandium alloys with high scandium content

Aluminium‐magnesium‐scandium alloys offer good weldability, high corrosion resistance, high thermal stability and the potential for high strength by precipitation hardening. A problem of aluminium‐scandium alloys is the low solubility of about 0.3 mass‐% scandium when using conventional casting methods. The solution of scandium can be raised by higher cooling rates during solidification. This was realised by spray forming of Al‐4.5Mg‐0.7Sc alloys as flat deposits. Further cooling rates after solidification should also be high to prevent coarse precipitation of secondary Al₃Sc. Therefore a cooling device was designed for the spray formed flat deposits. The flat deposits were rolled at elevated temperatures to close the porosity from spray forming. Microstructures, aging behaviour and tensile properties of the rolled sheets were investigated. Strength enhancements of about 100 MPa compared to conventional Al‐Mg‐Sc alloys were achieved.     

Monotonic and Cyclic Deformation Behavior of MIG‐CMT Welded and Heat‐Treated Joints of Aluminum Cast and Wrought Alloys

While the fatigue behavior of die cast aluminum as well as welded aluminum wrought alloys have been subject of several studies, no systematic work has been carried out on hybrid structures made as a combination of welded sand castings and wrought alloys. Aim of the present study is to correlate the monotonic and cyclic deformation behavior of thin sheet welded joints with the microstructure in the heat affected zone of the material combination sand cast EN AC‐Al Si7Mg0.3 and wrought alloy EN AW‐Al Si1MgMn (EN AW‐6082). The metal sheets were welded using a metal inert gas cold metal transfer process under variation of the welding gap, the heat treatment parameters, as well as the surface finishes. It was demonstrated by Wöhler diagrams based on bending fatigue tests that the fatigue life could be increased for the welded and heat treated specimens as compared to the as‐received cast specimens. By means of optical microscopy this effect was attributed to microstructural changes due to the optimized welding and heat treatment process. A detailed analysis of the mechanical tests was possible by the application of an optical 3D strain analysis.     

The influence of post‐heat treatments on the tensile strength and surface hardness of selectively laser‐melted AlSi10Mg

To improve the mechanical properties of cast aluminium alloys several post‐heat treatments are known. However, these treatments cannot directly be transposed to additively via selective laser melting manufactured aluminium alloys, e. g., aluminium‐silicon‐magnesium (AlSi10Mg). Therefore, this study aims to determine suitable post‐heat treatments to optimise the mechanical properties of SLM‐built AlSi10Mg specimen. The influence of various post‐heat treatment conditions on the material characteristics was examined through hardness and tensile tests. The findings indicate that the Vickers hardness and ultimate tensile strength could not be improved via secondary precipitation hardening, whereas the fracture elongation shows a value which is distinctly higher than the values of a comparable cast alloy. Solution annealing at 525 °C reduces the hardness and the ultimate tensile strength by about 40 % and increases the fracture elongation three times. A subsequent precipitation hardening allows recovery of 80 % of the as‐built hardness, and 90 % of the previous ultimate tensile strength combined with maintaining an improved fracture elongation of about 35 % compared to the respective as‐fabricated condition.     

Distortion Behaviour and Mechanical Properties of AlCu4Mg1 Sheet Components after High‐Pressure Gas Quenching in Comparison to Liquid Quenching

The quenching process after solution annealing of age hardenable aluminium alloys is necessary for an improvement of the mechanical properties, but also tends to result in distortion, especially in thin or complex shaped parts, and requires a costly reworking. High‐pressure gas quenching can reduce distortion compared to liquid quenching, because of the better temperature uniformity during quenching. A determination of the distortion behaviour of different serial parts of the aluminium wrought alloy 2024cl (AlCu4Mg1,clad) points out, that high‐pressure gas quenching offers predominantly excellent values regarding the dimensional accuracy after quenching compared to liquid quenchants. In comparison to the conventional heat treatment, similar values in strength, hardness and electrical conductivity have been determined after gas quenching and aging of different aluminium alloys (2024, 6013, and 7075), Furthermore, the residual stresses have been investigated and could be clearly reduced after gas quenching.     

Effect of Zn addition on the precipitation behaviors of Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloys for automotive applications

Effect of Zn addition on the precipitation kinetics and age-hardening response of Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloys was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), hardness measurements, tensile tests and microstructural characterization. The results show that, compared with the Zn-free alloy, both the starting and peak temperatures in the DSC curve, and activation energy of β″ precipitation of Zn-added Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy decrease significantly, corresponding to the greatly improved precipitation kinetics and age-hardening response, i.e., a hardness increment of 70HV after aging at 185 °C for 20 min. Moreover, the peak hardness and tensile properties can also be greatly enhanced after adding 3.0 wt% Zn even exhibiting a ductile fracture feature in the peak-aged state. No precipitates of the Al–Zn–Mg alloy system appear in the Zn-added Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloys after aging at 185 °C, and pre-β″, β″, and L precipitates are still the main precipitates in the two alloys after peak aging treatment. Finally, based on the microstructural evolution, a schematic diagram of precipitation in the Al–Mg–Si–Cu–Zn alloy is put forward, and the relationship between mechanical properties and microstructure is also established.     

Möglichkeiten zur Steigerung der Oberflächenfestigkeit bei Aluminiumlegierungen mit Plasma-Pulver-Schweißverfahren

Improving of the Wear Resistance of Aluminium Alloys by Plasma Transferred Arc Welding Aluminium alloys are extensively used materials which can be found in a wide range of industrial applications. They have distinctive advantages such as a high strength/weight ratio, an excellent workability and good corrosion behaviour. However, aluminium alloys possess wear resistance properties which limitate their usage in heavy wear applications. Besides many technologies applying thin film wear resistant layers on aluminium alloys there is hardly a technology which can produce strengthened surfaces in a range of several millimeters. Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) Welding using a modified polarity DCCP (Direct Current Combined Polarity) was used for enhancing the wear properties of wrought and cast aluminium alloys by alloying and dispersing. Hardness and wear resistance of the plasma welded surfaces could be improved significantly.     

Thermische Nachbehandlung der laserstrahlgeschweißten Al‐Legierungen AlSi1MgMn und AlCu4Mg1

Post heat treatment of the laser beam welded aluminium alloys AlSi1MgMn and AlCu4Mg1 Laser beam welded age hardenable aluminium alloys often exhibit a loss in strength in the fusion and the heat affected zones, compared to the uninfluenced base material. A material‐compatible combination among a base material, a welding filler material, as well as welding parameters and a suitable post heat treatment of the welded joint allows to improve the weld seam properties. The base material AlSi1MgMn (6082) was welded in the aging condition T4 using AlSi12 and AlSi7Mg ‐ filler materials and the welded joint was completely aged at different temperatures and times, in order to adjust an almost constant hardness profile over the base material, heat affected zone and fusion zone. The base material AlCu4Mg1 (2024) was welded in the aging condition T351 using a AlCu6Mn ‐ filler material and the welded joint was naturally aged. The aging behaviour, the residual stress, the static and dynamic properties of welded joints were examined. The properties can be clearly improved by the post heat treatment.     

TiAl和Mo5Si3金属间化合物基高温结构材料及其合金化研究

对比分析了ＴｉＡｌ和Ｍｏ５Ｓｉ３金属间化合物的性能特点,应用前景和存在问题,并对这两种金属间化合物的合金化研究作了综述和展望。近来研究微量镁和镍在ＴｉＡｌ合金中的作用发现,微合金化可提高变形合金的热加工工艺性能和促进铸造合金组织的细化,是ＴｉＡｌ金属间化合物进一步合金化研究的重要方向。根据模量计算和常用合金元素在Ｍｏ５Ｓｉ３相中溶解度的测定,结果,讨论了以合金化韧化Ｍｏ５Ｓｉ３化合物的潜力。     

Effects of grain refinement on age hardening behavior and precipitation kinetics of Al–Si–Cu–Mg alloys

The influences of grain refinement on precipitation kinetics were investigated for an Al–11 wt% Si–1.5 wt% Cu–0.3 wt% Mg casting alloy doped with B and and with La–B respectively by microstructure observation, hardness test and Johnson–Mehl–Avrami (JMA) equation. Co‐alloying of La–B facilitates the faster hardening response with higher hardness value for the alloy. The calculated Avarmi exponent indicates that the nucleation of θ′‐Al₂Cu precipitates occurs on grain boundaries for the refined alloys. The activation energies for the precipitation are of 42 kJ/mol and 30 kJ/mol for B‐doped and La–B co‐doped alloys, respectively.     

Diffusionslöten von Aluminium mittels PVD applizierter Lotzusatzwerkstoffe

Diffusion brazing of aluminium by PVD applied filler metals Diffusion brazing of aluminium and aluminium alloys precoated with filler metal components enables fluxless wetting and obtains braze joints of high strength at moderate brazing temperatures. Previously deposited components of filler metals on the base materials as thin film, using Arc‐PVD‐process lead during a subsequently diffusion brazing process to the formation of a local liquid phase (transient liquid phase). The liquid phase is formed from the deposited thin film material and the base material and is solidified isotherm due to diffusion procedures. In doing so braze joints of higher melting point than brazing temperature can be realised. In this work, vacuum brazing of the two systems, Al‐Cu and Al‐Cu‐Si have been investigated. Cu and Al‐Cu‐Si were deposited on the base material using Arc‐PVD‐process. The base materials were pure aluminum and EN‐AW6060. Metallographic and scanning electron microscope analyses proved that the braze seam area after the completed diffusion brazing process shows similar structure and composition as the base material.     

Effect of SiC‐Reinforcement and Equal‐Channel Angular Pressing on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AA2017

This article deals with powder metallurgical production and modification of properties of a composite material based on an age‐hardenable Al–Cu alloy. The main objective is to improve the mechanical properties by particle reinforcement and equal‐channel angular pressing (ECAP). Our approach makes use of four hardening mechanisms: precipitation hardening, particle reinforcement, strain‐hardening, and grain boundary hardening associated with an ultrafine‐grained microstructure produced by ECAP. The main processing steps are high‐energy ball milling, hot‐isostatic pressing, extrusion, heat treatment, and a single ECAP pass. Microstructures are analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy. The mechanical properties are characterized by hardness measurements and quasi‐static tensile testing. Our experimental results show that the proposed processing route results in a nearly homogeneous distribution of SiC particles in the matrix. The combination of particle reinforcement and ECAP leads to an improvement of ultimate tensile strength by almost 300 MPa compared to the unreinforced alloy. A subsequent heat treatment leads to a further increase in hardness and strength that can be related to changes in the defect structure. Our study provides detailed information on how processing steps, microstructures, and mechanical behavior are interrelated in this technologically relevant class of materials.     

Atomic Structures of Precipitates in Al–Mg–Si Alloys with Small Additions of Other Elements

In Al–Mg–Si alloys, additions of only a few weight percent of Mg and Si enable formation of hardening precipitates during heat treatment. The precipitation is complex and is influenced by chemical compositions and thermo‐mechanical treatment. Structural analysis at the atomic scale has played an important role for understanding the Al–Mg–Si system. This review paper gives a summary of the influence of elements on the precipitate structures of Al–Mg–Si alloys at the atomic scale. The structures are modified by small additions of different elements, but all the encountered precipitates are structurally connected with the Si network, except for the main hardening phase which exhibit a partially discontinuous Si network. The influence of the selected elements (Li, Cu, Zn, Ge, Ag, Ni, Co, and Au) is discussed in detail.

     

Microstructure and tensile properties of squeeze cast Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy

Abstract

It is well known that wrought aluminium alloys have tensile properties superior to those of the cast products. Wrought grade alloys cannot usually be produced by conventional casting processes to attain the same level of tensile properties. However, progress in casting methods in recent years has made it possible to produce wrought alloys by means of squeeze casting techniques. In the present study an Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy has been produced by squeeze casting. Tensile properties close to those of wrought products have been achieved by controlling the microstructure, pressure, and other processing parameters.     

Microstructure characterization and tensile properties of squeeze-cast AlSiMg alloys

A research program was conducted to study the effects of squeeze pressure (70, 100 and 160 MPa) and heat treatment T6 on the structure, hardness and tensile properties of cast Al6Si0.3Mg alloys. The influence of squeeze pressure on macro- and microstructures of Al6Si0.3Mg alloys has been investigated. Some of castings were solution treated at 540 °C for various times and others were subjected to aging at 170 °C after solution treatment. The results indicated that precipitation occurred within about 30 min for both cast and squeeze cast alloys. The hardness began to increase and maximum values were observed after about 10 h for as-cast alloy. Increasing of squeeze pressure (70–160 MPa) accelerated strength of the alloys from 8 to 4 h, respectively. Squeeze pressures decreased the percentage of porosity and increased the density, also it decreased the grain size of α-Al and modified the Si eutectic. Hardness and tensile properties increased with both heat treatment and increasing of squeeze pressure.     

Using Ab Initio Calculations in Designing bcc MgLi–X Alloys for Ultra‐Lightweight Applications

Body centered cubic (bcc) Mg–Li‐based alloys are a promising light‐weight structural material. In order to tailor the Mg–Li composition with respect to specific industrial requirements, systematic materials‐design concepts need to be developed and applied. Quantum‐mechanical calculations are increasingly employed when designing new alloys as they accurately predict basic thermodynamic, structural, and functional properties using only the atomic composition as input. We have therefore performed a quantum‐mechanical study using density functional theory (DFT) to systematically explore fundamental physical properties of a broad set of bcc MgLi‐based compounds. These DFT‐determined properties are used to calculate engineering parameters such as (i) the specific Young's modulus (Y/ρ) or (ii) the bulk over shear modulus ratio (B/G) which allow differentiating between brittle and ductile behavior. As we have recently shown, it is not possible to increase both specific Young's modulus, as a measure of strength, and B/G ratio, as a proxy for ductility, by changing only the composition in the binary bcc Mg–Li system. In an attempt to bypass such fundamental materials‐design limitations, a large set of MgLi–X substitutional ternaries derived from stoichiometric MgLi with CsCl structure are studied. Motivated by the fact that for Mg–Li alloys (i) 3rd row Si and Al and (ii) 4th row Zn are industrially used as alloying elements, we probe the alloying performance of the 3rd (Na, Al, Si, P, S, Cl) and 4th row transition metal (Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) elements. The studied solutes offer a variety of properties but none is able to simultaneously improve both specific Young's modulus and ductility. Therefore, in order to explore the alloying performance of yet a broader set of solutes, we predict the bulk modulus of MgX and LiX B2‐compounds running over 40 different elements.     

Low‐cycle fatigue behavior of a newly developed cast aluminum alloy for automotive applications

The drive for increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing anthropogenic greenhouse effect via lightweighting leads to the development of several new Al alloys. The effect of Mn and Fe addition on the microstructure of Al‐Mg‐Si alloy in as‐cast condition was investigated. The mechanical properties including strain‐controlled low‐cycle fatigue characteristics were evaluated. The microstructure of the as‐cast alloy consisted of globular primary α‐Al phase and characteristic Mg₂Si‐containing eutectic structure, along with Al₈(Fe,Mn)₂Si particles randomly distributed in the matrix. Relative to several commercial alloys including A319 cast alloy, the present alloy exhibited superior tensile properties without trade‐off in elongation and improved fatigue life due to the unique microstructure with fine grains and random textures. The as‐cast alloy possessed yield stress, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation of about 185 MPa, 304 MPa, and 6.3%, respectively. The stress‐strain hysteresis loops were symmetrical and approximately followed Masing behavior. The fatigue life of the as‐cast alloy was attained to be higher than that of several commercial cast and wrought Al alloys. Cyclic hardening occurred at higher strain amplitudes from 0.3% to 0.8%, while cyclic stabilization sustained at lower strain amplitudes of ≤0.2%. Examination of fractured surfaces revealed that fatigue crack initiated from the specimen surface/near‐surface, and crack propagation occurred mainly in the formation of fatigue striations.     

Effect of co-addition of RE, Fe and Mn on the microstructure and performance of A390 alloy

The co-addition effect of RE, Mn and Fe on the microstructure and high-temperature strength of A390 has been conducted. The alloying effect of RE has also been explored. Formation of detrimental long-acicular RE-rich phase is not observed. The AlSiCuCeLa phase, α-Al(Mn,Fe)–Si phase and another complex phase composed of Al, Si, Mn, Fe, Cu and RE are observed to form after addition. RE can decrease the diffusion rates of Cu, Mg in the aging process and the intermetallics nucleate on a localized scale, but could not become coarse during heat-treatment. The electronegativity differences between RE and Al or Si are larger than those between Cu and Al or Si, so the RE-rich intermetallic compounds in Al–Si alloys are more stable. The co-addition of RE, Mn and Fe proves to be an effective method to enhance the high-temperature strength of A390. The high-temperature strength of A390 is increased by 25% in this article using this method.     

Calculations of electrical resistivity for Al–Cu and Al–Mg–Si alloys

Abstract

A system for thermodynamical calculations (Thermo-Calc) was used to derive the solid solubility of the alloying elements in commercial Al–Cu and Al–Mg–Si alloys. The electrical resistivity was then calculated using a model developed by the authors based on the Matthiessen's rule. The calculated resistivity agreed with the observed resistivity within ±2.5 nΩ m for the Al–Mg–Si alloys and ±2 nΩ m for the Al–Cu alloys, except for Al–Mg–Si alloys containing boron or chromium and Al–Cu alloys with special compositions.     

Effects of Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of an ECAPed Al–Zn–Mg–Cu Alloy

Equal‐channel angular pressing (ECAP) has a considerable advantage in the preparation of bulk fine‐grained alloys. To investigate the effect of solid solution treatment (SST) on the microstructure and mechanic properties of an Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy after ECAP, a comparative study is conducted using experimental techniques. It is shown that ECAP processing introduces a strong grain refinement, while the SST induces precipitation of skeleton‐like second phases distributed discontinuously at the grain boundary and needle‐like second phases in the grain. In addition, SST can also improve significantly the fractions of both high angle grain boundaries and recrystallization. The {110}<001> texture is introduced and the polar density is reduced during SST. Microstructural evolution involves three typical characteristics, namely, shear bands, substructure, and precipitates. The corresponding mechanism of microstructure evolution is proposed, considering the effect of dislocations, precipitates, and grain boundaries. After SST, the improvement of strength and hardness is not obvious, but significant in plasticity by 33.3%. Different strengthening mechanisms are also examined during ECAP and subsequent SST.