EFFECTS OF IMPURITIES AND RARE EARTH ADDITION ON THE TOUGHENING LEVELS OF Al-Li BASED ALLOYS 2090 AND 1420

The effects of the impurities Fe, Si, Na, K and a rare earth addition, Ce, on the intrinsic and extrinsic toughening levels have been investigated for the Al-Li based alloys 2090 and 1420. 29K reduction in the toughening level for the alloy 2090 with impurities 0.42% Fe Si or 0.0132% Na K i4 identified to be caused by the impurities.An improvement on the fracture toughness can be made by adding 0.05%-0.25% Ce to the alloy 2090. The reason behind this is that Ce microalloying can not only enhance both the intrinsic toughening level and the extrinsic toughening level but also suppress the embrittling behavior of the impurities. However, 0.06%-0.15% Ce microalloying fails to bring about any beneficial effect to the toughening level for the alloy 1420.