The Role of Precipitates in the Behavior of Young’s Modulus in Aluminum Alloys

The behavior of Young’s modulus, E, was determined in aluminum alloys such as AA7075 and AA2024 at room temperature under various thermomechanical treatments. E was almost 2 pct (AA7075) and 3 pct (AA2024) lower for these materials after solution heat treatment and quenching than after annealing. When the aging time was increased, values of E tended to approach the annealing values. The variation observed was attributed to structural changes during the thermal treatments. However, when the alloys were cold deformed before or after aging, no appreciable changes in E were observed. This behavior is quite different to that observed in cold-worked pure aluminum (and also in pure iron), in which E decreased to a minimum (7 to 10 pct reduction in values) and then partially recovered with additional cold working. The variation in behavior with cold working observed in a pure material and other materials that contain a second phase with nanometric precipitates was correlated with the density of dislocations and the length of the dislocation segments generated during the cold working process.