Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Pre-stretching and Aging Treatments on Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Corrosion Behavior of Spray-Formed Al-Li Alloy 2195

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, different pre-stretching and aging processes were applied to spray-formed Al-Cu-Li alloy 2195. The effects of different processes on the microstructures, mechanical properties, and corrosion behaviors of the alloy were examined. The strengthening and corrosion mechanisms were investigated. The samples treated with pre-stretching and aging have higher strength than the only aged samples. However, the strength is not significantly improved with the increase in the amount of pre-stretching. The pre-stretching treatment can suppress the formations of grain boundary precipitates (GBPs) and precipitate-free zones (PFZ), and the intergranular corrosion (IGC) sensitivity of the alloy is therefore reduced. The increase in pre-stretching promotes massive precipitation of the T1 phase, which leads to the negative shift of open-circuit potential. The over-aging treatment after pre-stretching leads to the growth of the PFZ and GBPs as well as the coarsening of the T1 phase. These changes in microstructure cause a decrease in mechanical properties and the re-sensitivity to the IGC. Under the same pre-stretching deformation, the two-step aging treatment (110 °C/12 h + 160 °C/24 h) can result in more intensive precipitation of the T1 phase, which enhanced the strength to a higher level. Meanwhile, the two-step aged alloy was immune to the IGC. The evolution mechanism of IGC for the alloy with different pre-stretching and aging processes was proposed based on the TEM characterization and the observation of IGC morphology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. R.J. Rioja and J. Liu, The Evolution of Al-Li Base Products for Aerospace and Space Applications, Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 2012, 43(9), p 3325–3337

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. J.C. Williams and J.A. Starke, Progress in Structural Materials for Aerospace Systems, Acta Mater., 2003, 51(19), p 5775–5799

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. E.A. Starke, Jr, and J.T. Staley, Application of Modern Aluminum Alloys to Aircraft, Prog. Aerosp. Sci., 1996, 32(2-3), p 131–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. N.E. Prasad, A.A. Gokhale, and R.J.H. Wanhill, Aluminum-Lithium Alloys: Processing, Properties, and Applications, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 2013

    Google Scholar 

  5. T. Warner, Recently-Developed Aluminium Solutions for Aerospace Applications, Mater. Sci. Forum, 2006, 519, p 1271–1278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. J.H. Kim, J.H. Jeun, H.J. Chun, Y.R. Lee, J.T. Yoo, J.H. Yoon, and H.S. Lee, Effect of Precipitates on Mechanical Properties of AA2195, J. Alloy. Compd., 2016, 669, p 187–198

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. W.A. Cassada, G.J. Shiflet, and E.A. Starke, The Effect of Plastic Deformation on Al2CuLi (T1) Precipitation, Metallurg. Trans. A, 1991, 22(2), p 299–306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. B.M. Gable, A.W. Zhu, A.A. Csontos, and E.A. Starke, The Role of Plastic Deformation on the Competitive Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of a Novel Al-Li-Cu-X Alloy, J. Light Met., 2001, 1(1), p 1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Y.X. Wang, G.Q. Zhao, X. Xu, X.X. Chen, and W.D. Zhang, Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Spray Deposited 2195 Al-Cu-Li Alloy through Thermo-mechanical Processing, Mater. Sci. Eng. A-Struct., 2018, 727, p 78–89

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. B.I. Rodgers and P.B. Prangnell, Quantification of the Influence of Increased Pre-stretching on Microstructure-Strength Relationships in the Al-Cu-Li Alloy AA2195, Acta Mater., 2016, 108, p 55–67

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. R.J. Rioja, E.L. Colvin, A.K. Vasudevan, and B.A. Cheney. Aluminum Alloy Two-Step Ageing Method and Article, U.S. Patent No. 4861391, 1989.

  12. M. Romios, R. Tiraschi, C. Parrish, H.W. Babel, J.R. Ogren, and O.S. Es-Said, Design of Multistep Ageing Treatments of 2099 (C458) Al-Li Alloy, J. Mater. Eng. Perform., 2005, 14(5), p 641–646

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. P.S. Chen, A.K. Kuruvilla, T.W. Malone, and W.P. Stanton, The Effects of Artificial Ageing on the Microstructure and Fracture Toughness of Al-Cu-Li Alloy 2195, J. Mater. Eng. Perform., 1998, 7(5), p 682–690

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. P.S. Chen and W.P. Stanton, Artificial Effects on Cryogenic Fracture Toughness of the Main Structural Alloy for the Super Light-Weight Tank, MRS Online Proc. Libr. Arch., 1998, 551, p 285–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. T. Dorin, F. de Geuser, W. Lefebvre, C. Siglib, and A. Deschampset, Strengthening Mechanisms of T1 Precipitates and Their Influence on the Plasticity of an Al-Cu-Li Alloy, Mater. Sci. Eng. A Struct., 2014, 605, p 119–126

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Y. Ma, X. Zhou, Y. Liao, Y. Yi, H. Wu, Z. Wang, and W. Huang, Localised Corrosion in AA2099-T83 Aluminium-Lithium Alloy: the Role of Grain Orientation, Corros. Sci., 2016, 107, p 41–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Y. Lin, C. Lu, C. Wei, and Z. Zheng, Effect of Ageing Treatment on Microstructures, Tensile Properties and Intergranular Corrosion Behavior of Al-Cu-Li Alloy, Mater. Charact., 2018, 141, p 163–168

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. R.G. Buchheit, J.P. Moran, and G.E. Stoner, Electrochemical Behavior of the T1 (Al2CuLi) Intermetallic Compound and Its Role in Localized Corrosion of Al-2% Li-3% Cu Alloys, Corrosion, 1994, 50(2), p 120–130

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. J.L. Huang, J.F. Li, D.Y. Liu, R.F. Zhang, Y.L. Chen, X.H. Zhang, P.C. Ma, R.K. Gupta, and N. Birbilis, Correlation of Intergranular Corrosion Behaviour with Microstructure in Al-Cu-Li Alloy, Corros. Sci., 2018, 139, p 215–226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. W. Yang, S. Ji, Q. Zhang, and M. Wang, Investigation of Mechanical and Corrosion Properties of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy under Various Ageing Conditions and Interface Analysis of η′ Precipitate, Mater. Des., 2015, 85, p 752–761

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. A. Garner and D. Tromans, Direct Observation of Intergranular Corrosion in Al-4wt% Cu Alloy, Corrosion, 1979, 35(2), p 55–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. J.G. Rinker, M. Marek, and T.H. Sanders, Microstructure, Toughness and Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of Aluminum Alloy 2020, Mater. Sci. Eng., 1984, 64(2), p 203–221

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. U. Donatus, M. Terada, C.R. Ospina, F.M. Queiroz, A.F.S. Bugarin, and I. Costa, On the AA2198-T851 Alloy Microstructure and Its Correlation with Localized Corrosion Behaviour, Corros. Sci., 2018, 131, p 300–309

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. J.F. Li, C.X. Li, Z.W. Peng, W.J. Chen, and Z.Q. Zheng, Corrosion Mechanism Associated with T1 and T2 Precipitates of Al-Cu-Li Alloys in Nacl Solution, J. Alloy. Compd., 2008, 460(1-2), p 688–693

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. J.F. Li, Z.Q. Zheng, S.C. Li, W.J. Chen, W.D. Ren, and X.S. Zhao, Simulation Study on Function Mechanism of Some Precipitates in Localized Corrosion of Al Alloys, Corros. Sci., 2007, 49(6), p 2436–2449

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. V. Proton, J. Alexis, E. Andrieu, J. Delfosse, A. Deschamps, D.G. Frédéric, M.C. Lafonta, and C. Blanc, The Influence of Artificial Ageing on The Corrosion Behaviour of a 2050 Aluminium-Copper-Lithium Alloy, Corros. Sci., 2014, 80, p 494–502

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Y. Ma, X. Zhou, W. Huang, Y. Liao, X. Chen, X. Zhang, and G.E. Thompson, Crystallographic Defects Induced Localised Corrosion in AA2099-T8 Aluminium Alloy, Corros. Eng. Sci. Techn., 2015, 50(6), p 420–424

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. X. Zhang, X. Zhou, T. Hashimoto, J. Lindsay, O. Ciuca, C. Luo, Z. Sun, X. Zhang, and Z. Tang, The Influence of Grain Structure on the Corrosion Behaviour of 2A97-T3 Al-Cu-Li Alloy, Corros. Sci., 2017, 116, p 14–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. M.M. Sharma, M.F. Amateau, and T.J. Eden, Mesoscopic Structure Control of Spray Formed High Strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloys, Acta Mater., 2005, 53(10), p 2919–2924

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. H. Jiang and R.G. Faulkner, Modelling of Grain Boundary Segregation, Precipitation and Precipitate-Free Zones of High Strength Aluminium Alloys-I, The Model, Acta Mater., 1996, 44(5), p 1857–1864

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. K.C. Russell, Grain Boundary Nucleation Kinetics, Acta Metall., 1969, 17(8), p 1123–1131

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. T. Dorin, A. Deschamps, F.D. Geuser, and C. Sigli, Quantification and Modelling of the Microstructure/Strength Relationship by Tailoring the Morphological Parameters of the T1 Phase in an Al-Cu-Li Alloy, Acta Mater., 2014, 75, p 134–146

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. J.F. Nie and B.C. Muddle, Microstructural Design of High-Strength Aluminum Alloys, J. Phase Equilib., 1998, 19(6), p 543–551

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. H.R. Shercliff and M.F. Ashby, A Process Model for Age Hardening of Aluminium Alloys-I, the model, Acta Metall. Mater., 1990, 38(10), p 1789–1802

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. J. Xu, Y. Deng, J. Chen, and X. Gao, Effect of Ageing Treatments on the Precipitation Behavior and Mechanical Properties of Al-Cu-Li Alloys, Mater. Sci. Eng. A Struct., 2020, 773, p 138885

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. C. Kumai, J. Kusinski, G. Thomas, and T.M. Devine, Influence of Ageing at 200 C on the Corrosion Resistance of Al-Li and Al-Li-Cu Alloys, Corrosion, 1989, 45(4), p 294–304

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Q. Liu, R.H. Zhu, D.Y. Liu, Y. Xu, J.F. Li, Y.L. Chen, X.H. Zhang, and Z.Q. Zheng, Correlation between Artificial Ageing and Intergranular Corrosion Sensitivity of a New Al-Cu-Li Alloy Sheet, Mater. Corros., 2017, 68(1), p 65–76

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Y. Yan, L. Peguet, O. Gharbi, A. Deschamps, C.R. Hutchinson, S.K. Kairy, and N. Birbilis, On the Corrosion, Electrochemistry and Microstructure of Al-Cu-Li Alloy AA2050 as a Function of Ageing, Materialia, 2018, 1, p 25–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. B.J. Connolly and J.R. Scully, Corrosion Cracking Susceptibility in Al-Li-Cu Alloys 2090 and 2096 as a Function of Isothermal Ageing Time, Scripta Mater., 2000, 42(11), p 1039–1045

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. G.K. Williamson and R.E. Smallman, III, Dislocation Densities in Some Annealed and Cold-Worked Metals from Measurements on the X-ray Debye-Scherrer Spectrum, Philos. Mag., 1956, 1(1), p 34–46

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51735008).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, People’s Republic of China

    Yongxiao Wang, Xinwu Ma, Guoqun Zhao, Xiao Xu & Xiaoxue Chen

  2. Linqu Inspection and Testing Center, Linqu, Shandong, 262600, People’s Republic of China

    Huakun Xi

Authors
  1. Yongxiao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xinwu Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Huakun Xi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guoqun Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Xiao Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Xiaoxue Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xinwu Ma or Guoqun Zhao.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

It is known that there is a positive correlation between the hardness and strength of the alloy. Therefore, the optimal aging parameters can be determined by the simple hardness tests. The aging parameters corresponding to largest hardness value can make the alloy to reach its peak strength.

Appendix 1.1.: Determination of Single-Stage Aging Process After Pre-stretching

The samples with 4% pre-stretching were aged in the temperature range of 140-180 °C for 1-72 h. The hardness of the aged samples was measured by using a HV-1000 micro-hardness tester. The aging hardening curves at different temperatures are shown in Fig. 16. As can be seen, all the hardness values increase rapidly with aging time and then tend to be stable or decrease. The hardness of samples aged with higher temperature rises faster, and shorter time is required to reach the peak values. The hardness of the samples aged at low temperatures can keep relatively stable for a long time after reaching the peak value. However, for the samples aged at high temperature, the hardness value decreases greatly after the peak value, which is typical for the over-aging process. While the peak values for the samples aged at the temperature ranging from 150 to 170 °C are very close, the maximum hardness can be reached at 160 °C/30 h. Therefore, the single-stage peak-aging process for the samples after pre-stretching will be performed with the parameter of 160 °C/30 h.

Fig. 16
figure 16

Hardness curves of the samples aged at different temperatures after 4% pre-stretching

Full size image

Appendix 1.2.: Determination of Two-Stage Aging Process After Pre-stretching

The optimization for the two-stage aging process was still performed on the samples with 4% pre-stretching. There are four main factors for the two-stage aging process, including first-stage aging temperature (A), first-stage aging time (B), second-stage aging temperature (C), and the second-stage aging time (D). If there are four levels for every factor, it is required to carry out 256 experiments for the optimization if we adopt the method in the previous section. In order to reduce the number of experiments, an orthogonal experiment with four factors and four levels was selected to optimize the two-stage aging parameters. The range analysis based on the orthogonal experiment results was carried out to determine the best parameters. Table 2 shows the orthogonal experiment scheme and the experimental results.

Table 2 Orthogonal experimental design and results
Full size table

Figure 17 shows the range analysis results of the orthogonal test. The parameters marked by the larger symbols are more beneficial to the improvement of hardness. Therefore, the optimal combination of two-stage aging parameters is A2, B3, C2, and D3. That is, the first-stage aging temperature and time are 110 °C and 12 h, and the second-stage aging temperature and time are 160 °C and 24 h, respectively.

Fig. 17
figure 17

Range analysis results for the orthogonal test of aging hardness

Full size image

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, Y., Ma, X., Xi, H. et al. Effects of Pre-stretching and Aging Treatments on Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Corrosion Behavior of Spray-Formed Al-Li Alloy 2195. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 29, 6960–6973 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05142-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05142-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation