Effect of Quenching Rate on Microstructure and Hardness of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Cr Alloy Extruded Bar

Abstract

The effect of quenching rate on microstructure and hardness of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Cr alloy extruded bar was studied by hardness test, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that at quenching rate below 100℃/s, during the cooling process, the hardness begins to fall significantly; and it decreases by 43% at the quenching rate of 2℃/s. At quenching rate below 100℃/s, the number and size of equilibrium η phase heterogeneously nucleated at(sub)grain boundaries and on dispersoids inside grains increase obviously with the decrease of quenching rate, leading to greatly reduced age-hardening response. At the same quenching rate, the equilibrium η phase inside grains is larger than that at grain boundaries. In the range of the studied quenching rates, a quantitative relationship between hardness and equilibrium η phase area fraction has been established.

Keywords

• Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Cr alloy
• quenching rate
• microstructure
• hardness