| The purpose of this investigation was to identify the structure/property relationship of spray formed 7XXX series alloys. High solute, ultra-high strength 7XXX series aluminum alloys with solute contents close to equilibrium solid solubility limits of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu system have been produced by rapid solidification using spray deposition. The process yields massive preforms directly from the liquid state. Various elements, including chromium, manganese, silver, zirconium and scandium, were incorporated to produce a variety of microstructures and mechanical properties. SiC particulate was added to these same alloy compositions to produce metal matrix composites (MMCs). The resulting extruded products in the T6 and T7 conditions were evaluated and compared. Under peak-aged conditions in the unreinforced materials, strengths in excess of 860 MPa were achieved, with one alloy exceeding 900 MPa. Apart from the elongation to failure, the mechanical properties of the composite materials were equal to or superior to those of their unreinforced counterparts.; The superior strength properties of the spray formed alloys were attributed to two major substructures with different scale; nanometer sized η ′ metastable precipitates and slightly larger, but finely distributed dispersoids. The large volume fraction of plate-like η′ precipitates (average size 58Å, ranging up to 73 Å in diameter) were identified as having a hexagonal structure with lattice parameters a = 0.488 nm and c = 1.376. The remarkable strengthening is predominantly attributed to precipitation hardening. The enhanced mechanical properties of the MMC materials are attributed to the increased dislocation density, and thus, a higher concentration of structural particles compared to the unreinforced materials. Higher gas-to-metal ratios of 4.45, as opposed to lower gas-to-metal ratios of 1.95 produced a refined grain structure with an evenly distributed second phase. In both unreinforced and MMC materials, alloys with zinc contents over 12 wt. % attained the highest concentration of structural particles. One alloy displayed high strengths exceeding all others in the study. The superior strength properties were attributed to the addition of scandium, which produced a fine dispersion of the Al3Sc phase. This finely dispersed phase created additional strengthening through, coherency mismatch of Al3Sc and Al3(Sc,Zr) precipitates with the matrix, and ordered particle strengthening.; The spray formed extrusions exhibited a loss in fracture resistance (K Q), compared to IM 7075 alloys. Characterization of the fracture surfaces indicated a predominantly intergranular decohesion, possibly facilitated by the presence of incoherent particles at the grain boundary regions and by the large strength differential between the matrix and precipitate zone.; The MMC materials displayed a large increase in fatigue strength compared to commercial IM 7075-T6 and -T7 alloys. The enhanced fatigue performance of the spray formed alloys is attributed to low crack growth rates, which are a consequence of inhomogeneous slip. It is believed that the massive presence of coherent and semicoherent (GP zones and η′ phase) particles of reduced dimension in the spray formed alloys allowed a highly inhomogeneous slip behavior, where a slip reverse mechanism was operative. |
