Inhomogeneity of Microstructure and Properties of 7085-T651 Aluminum Alloy Extra-thick Plate

Abstract

Inhomogeneity of microstructure and properties of 7085-T651 aluminum alloy extra-thick plate were investigated by tensile properties, exfoliation corrosion, optical microscopy(OM), composition analysis, scanning electron microscopy(SEM),differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the microstructure, tensile property and exfoliation corrosion in different layers of 7085-T651 aluminum alloy of 110 mm thick are inhomogeneous. For the 1/4 thickness layer, the tensile strength is the minimum, 540 MPa, and the resistance to exfoliation corrosion of this layer is the worst, with exfoliation corrosion classification of EB. For the core layer, the tensile strength is the maximum, 580 MPa. The resistance to exfoliation corrosion of the surface layer is the best, with exfoliation corrosion classification of EA. For the 1/4 thickness layer, it has the largest recrystallized fraction up to about 47.7% and the grain size is about 105 μm; there are equilibrium phase particles precipitated on grain boundaries or within grains; the size of aging precipitates is small; and thus both mechanical properties and resistance to exfoliation corrosion are the worst. For the core layer, it has the smallest recrystallized fraction of about 14.8% and there are a large amount of sub-grains; the fraction of residual phase Al7Cu2Fe almost reaches up to about 1.43%; the size of the equilibrium phase on grain boundaries, the size of aging precipitates and the width of PFZ are large, and therefore good mechanical properties and bad resistance to exfoliation corrosion are obtained.

Keywords

• 7085 aluminum alloy
• extra-thick plate
• inhomogeneity
• precipitate free zone