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Effect of Thermomechanical Treatment on the Environmentally Induced Cracking Behavior of AA7075 Alloy

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Abstract

The influence of thermomechanical treatment on the stress corrosion cracking behavior of AA7075 aluminum alloy forgings was examined in 3.5% NaCl solution by varying the extent of thermomechanical working imparted to each of the conditions. The results show that inadequate working during billet processing resulted in inferior corrosion and mechanical properties. However, more working with intermediate pre-heating stages also led to precipitation of coarse particles resulting in lowering of mechanical properties marginally and a significant reduction in the general/pitting corrosion resistance. The results obtained in the present study indicate that optimum working with controlled pre-heating levels is needed during forging to achieve the desired properties. It is also demonstrated that AA7075 in the over aged condition does not show any environmental cracking susceptibility in spite of the microstructural variations in terms of size and volume fraction of the precipitates. However, the above microstructural variations definitely affected the pitting corrosion and mechanical properties significantly and hence a strict control over the working and pre-heating stages during billet processing is suggested.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere thanks to Director, VSSC for permitting to publish the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Management Division, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, 695 022, India

    Rahul Ghosh, P. Sankaravelayudham & Rajiv Panda

  2. Materials and Metallurgy Group, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, 695 022, India

    A. Venugopal & S. C. Sharma

  3. Materials and Mechanical Entity, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, 695 022, India

    Koshy M. George

  4. Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, 400 076, India

    V. S. Raja

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  1. Rahul Ghosh
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  2. A. Venugopal
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Correspondence to A. Venugopal.

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Ghosh, R., Venugopal, A., Sankaravelayudham, P. et al. Effect of Thermomechanical Treatment on the Environmentally Induced Cracking Behavior of AA7075 Alloy. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 24, 545–555 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-1311-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-1311-2

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