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The effect of pre-ageing on the microstructure and properties of 7050 alloy

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Abstract

In the present work, the effect of pre-ageing temperature and time variations on the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the Retrogression and re-aging (RRA) treated 7050 has been investigated. The results reveal that the electronic conductivity and hardness of RRA-treated samples are sensitive to the pre-ageing tempers. The RRA-treated samples with 120 °C/2 h pre-ageing +180 °C/2 h retrogression +120 °C/24 h re-ageing temper can be tailored toward a good combination of strength and elongation, while the electrical conductivity of re-ageing samples is also higher than that of 120 °C/24 h pre-ageing RRA-treated samples. With an intermediate pre-ageing temperature of 80 °C/24 h RRA-treated samples possess a higher re-aged electronic conductivity, while no significant differences can be found between hardness of 120 °C/2 h and 120 °C/24 h pre-ageing RRA-treated samples. The variation of hardness and electronic conductivity during retrogression depends on the pre-ageing tempers. For under-aged sample, the retrogression hardness appears a stage of hardness increasing followed by a further decrease in hardness results, owing to disappearance of dissolving stage of fine GP zone and η′ phase during pre-ageing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 150001, China

    Yuan Liu, Wenjun Li & Daming Jiang

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  1. Yuan Liu
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  2. Wenjun Li
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Correspondence to Yuan Liu.

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Liu, Y., Li, W. & Jiang, D. The effect of pre-ageing on the microstructure and properties of 7050 alloy. Journal of Materials Research 30, 3803–3810 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.372

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