Electron microscopy studies of the age-hardening behaviors in 6005A alloy and microstructural characterizations of precipitates

Wenchao Yang, Lanping Huang, Ruirong Zhang, Mingpu Wang, Zhou Li, Yanlin Jia, Ruoshan Lei, Xiaofei Sheng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Scopus citations

Abstract

High-resolution electron microscopy was used to research the age-hardening behaviors in 6005A alloy and the microstructural characterizations of precipitates. It was found that β″, β′ and Q′ precipitates had 12 orientation variants, respectively, the smaller size and a high-density β′′ precipitates existed in alloy for a long time, which played a very important role in controlling an anti-overaged softening behavior in 6005A alloy. Further, by the crystallographic interface and morphology analysis, a main reason was that a 2-dimensions coherency strain-field not only had the high-density β′′ precipitates become the biggest obstacle of dislocations movement, but also made them transform into β′ and Q′ precipitates with more difficulty. Moreover, it was also found that β′ and Q′ precipitates had weaker relatively strain-fields, the larger size and a lower density, which were largely associated with the reduction in hardness that occurred upon overaging. Further, the strengthening of precipitates on alloys could be summarized as: β″ > Q′ > β′. Based on the structural information, the quantitative Moiré fringes analytical technique was also used to verify the lattice parameters and orientation of precipitates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)220-233
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume514
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Feb 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Aluminum alloys
  • High-resolution electron microscopy (HREM)
  • Microstructure
  • Moiré fringes
  • Precipitate
  • Strengthening

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