Influence of repetitious-RRA treatment on the strength and SCC resistance of Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy

Influence of repetitious-retrogression and reaging (repetitious-RRA) treatment on the strength and SCC resistance of Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy was investigated by the slow strain rate technique (SSRT) and electrical conductivity test, using TEM, EDS and SEM. Additionally, the strength of alloy was characterized by Vickers hardness. The results show that within 3 times RRA treatments, SCC resistance increases with the increase of time, while maintaining strength as compared to RRA treatment, TEM observation along with EDS analysis indicates that within 3 times, matrix precipitates (MPs) in repetitious-RRA treatment are similar to those by RRA treatment and grain boundary precipitates (GBPs) become more discrete and coarser with the time. However, RRA treatment reaches 4 times, the SCC resistance gets worse because MPs are also coarse. Besides, the Cu content of GBPs increases with the time, inversely for Zn content, which is another reason for improving the SCC resistance.