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The effects of hot rolling and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Sc alloy reinforced with in situ TiB2 particulates

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Abstract

The effects of particulate fraction, rolling thickness reduction, and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Sc/TiB2 composite (TiB2 /Al2618) are analyzed. The yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and elongation of both the matrix alloy and TiB2/Al2618 composite are increased with the increase of rolling reduction. The YS and UTS reach 250 MPa and 300 MPa, respectively, after a 70% rolling reduction, which are 16.3% and 7.4% higher than the unreinforced matrix alloy of an identical amount of rolling reduction. After solid solution and artificial aging treatment, both YS and UTS are further increased for both the matrix alloy and the composites with a 35% rolling reduction. While for those with 70% rolling reduction, the improvement is alleviated. The effects of hot rolling, heat treatment, and TiB2 particulates on the microstructure and mechanical properties are discussed to understand the underlying mechanisms.

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Acknowledgments

SM is acknowledging the Graduate School of Purdue University for a Ross Fellowship and a Bilsland Fellowship for his study. The authors would also like to acknowledge Purdue Research Foundation for its financial support in the production of the materials.

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    Siming Ma & Xiaoming Wang

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Ma, S., Wang, X. The effects of hot rolling and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Sc alloy reinforced with in situ TiB2 particulates. Journal of Materials Research 37, 3680–3694 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00741-9

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