Constitutive Description of 7075 Aluminum Alloy During Hot Deformation by Apparent and Physically-Based Approaches

Hot flow stress of 7075 aluminum alloy during compressive hot deformation was correlated to the Zener-Hollomon parameter through constitutive analyses based on the apparent approach and the proposed physically-based approach which accounts for the dependence of the Young’s modulus and the self-diffusion coefficient of aluminum on temperature. It was shown that the latter approach not only results in a more reliable constitutive equation, but also significantly simplifies the constitutive analysis, which in turn makes it possible to conduct comparative hot working studies. It was also demonstrated that the theoretical exponent of 5 and the lattice self-diffusion activation energy of aluminum (142 kJ/mol) can be set in the hyperbolic sine law to describe the peak flow stresses and the resulting constitutive equation was found to be consistent with that resulted from the proposed physically-based approach.