Abstract
The novel thermomechanical treatment employed by Wang Z et al (2014 Mater. Sci. Eng. A 607 313-7) in enhancing the mechanical and microstructure properties of 6000 series aluminium alloys has been replicated for AA2139 aerospace aluminium alloys. The novel route which involves under-ageing, cold-rolling reductions and re-ageing at a fixed temperature has been carried out focusing on the effect of pre-straining and pre-ageing on the alloy properties. The influence of varying cold-rolling reductions and pre-ageing has been examined by tensile testing, hardness testing, differential scanning calorimetry, thermoelectric power measurements and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Further analyses were conducted with DSC and TEP measurements to check for precipitation sequence and solute retention respectively. On comparing the hardness and strength of the non pre-aged to the pre-aged samples, there is a remarkable increase in the hardness and strength of the aerospace alloy showing the huge influence of both pre-ageing and pre-straining stage of the novel thermomechanical treatment as observed in the 6000 series alloy, albeit at a higher rate. The treatments that exhibited the most promising mechanical properties (hardness, yield and ultimate tensile strength, elongation to failure) were found to be at a pre-ageing temperature of 175 °C for 1.5 h, 40% cold-rolling and re-ageing at 150 °C. The material was found to have yield strength of 590 MPa and 8.1% uniform elongation, which is well above the 5% acceptable value for structural applications and with strength levels adaptable for aerospace industries. The presence of higher volume fraction of well dispersed precipitates observed in the SEM further shows that intermediate cold-rolling reductions combines well with pre-ageing to give the best mechanical properties in this alloy.