Microstructures and mechanical properties of ultrafine grained 7075 Al alloy processed by ECAP and their evolutions during annealing Original Research Article

Microstructures and mechanical properties of equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) processed and naturally aged ultrafine grained (UFG) and coarse grained (CG) 7075 Al alloys as well as their evolutions during annealing were investigated. After the same natural aging, the tensile yield strength, ultimate strength, and microhardness of the UFG samples were 103%, 35%, and 48% higher, respectively, than those of the CG samples, because of higher densities of Guinier–Preston (G–P) zones and dislocations in the UFG sample. Upon annealing, the microhardness of the UFG sample decreased gradually, while a hardening peak appeared for the CG sample. The peak was caused by the precipitation hardening of the metastable η′ phase. For the UFG sample, the precipitation hardening was overcompensated by the significant decrease of microstrain (dislocation density) upon annealing, resulting in a lack of precipitation hardening peak. Differential scanning calorimetry indicates that the ECAP process only accelerated the phase precipitations, but did not change the sequence of phase precipitation. This study shows that severe plastic deformation has the potential to significantly improve the mechanical properties of age-hardening Al alloys.