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Microstructural characteristics and aging response of Zn-containing Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy

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Abstract

Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloys with and without Zn addition were fabricated by conventional ingot metallurgy method. The microstructures and properties were investigated using optical microscopy (OM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tensile test, hardness test, and electrical conductivity measurement. It is found that the as-cast Al-Mg-Si-Cu-Zn alloy is composed of coarse dendritic grains, long needle-like β/δ-AlFeSi white intermetallics, and Chinese script-like α-AlFeSi compounds. During high temperature homogenization treatment, only harmful needle-like β-AlFeSi phase undergoes fragmentation and spheroidizing at its tips, and the destructive needle-like δ-phase does not show any morphological and size changes. Phase transitions from β-AlFeSi to α-AlFeSi and from δ-AlFeSi to β-AlFeSi are also not found. Zn addition improves the aging hardening response during the former aging stage and postpones the peak-aged hardness to a long aging time. In T4 condition, Zn addition does not obviously increase the yield strength and decrease the elongation, but it markedly improves paint-bake hardening response during paint-bake cycle. The addition of 0.5wt% Zn can lead to an increment of 99 MPa in yield strength compared with the value of 69 MPa for the alloy without Zn after paint-bake cycle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yuan-hua Cai, Cong Wang & Ji-shan Zhang

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  1. Yuan-hua Cai
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  2. Cong Wang
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  3. Ji-shan Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuan-hua Cai.

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Cai, Yh., Wang, C. & Zhang, Js. Microstructural characteristics and aging response of Zn-containing Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy. Int J Miner Metall Mater 20, 659–664 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-013-0780-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-013-0780-x

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