Thermo-Mechanical Treated High Strength AA-7xxx Aluminium Alloy by Cold and Cryo-Rolling Study their Mechanical Properties Corrosion and Microstructure Correlation

Abstract

Thermo-mechanical treatment, in particular, cryo-rolling is a unique technique to produce super high strength AA-7xxx aluminium alloys with ultra-fine grained structure. In order to conduct the rolling at room temperature and cryo-temperature (liquid N2 (-190°C)), the AA-7xxx alloy ingot was rolled from 6mm to 1mm with 85% reduction in thickness. Optical microscopy, XRD, electron microscopy, hardness and tensile testing were conducted on the rolled alloy for understanding the phase changes and evaluating the mechanical properties. The alloy rolled at liquid nitrogen (LN2) exhibits very high strength with reasonable ductility. Corrosion behaviour of AA-7xxx series aluminium alloy various conditions in NaCl (3.5%) solution were investigated. Cold rolled and cryo rolled alloy exhibits better corrosion resistance than that of cast.