Effects of natural aging after pre-aging on clustering and bake-hardening behavior in an Al–Mg–Si alloy. (15th April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aruga, Yasuhiro; Kozuka, Masaya; Takaki, Yasuo; Sato, Tatsuo
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Volume 116(2016)
• Page Start: 82
• Page End: 86
• Publication Date: 2016-04-15
• Subjects: Aluminum alloys -- Aging -- Hardness -- Atom probe tomography -- Cluster; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2016.01.019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Abstract: Atom probe tomography (APT) analysis was used to characterize the clustered state after pre-aging at 90 °C (PA) and subsequent natural aging (NA) in an Al–0.62Mg–0.93Si (mass%) alloy. It was revealed that larger Si-rich clusters increase in number after prolonged NA. The long-term NA after PA is believed to promote the preferential aggregation of solute Si toward clusters formed during PA rather than the independent formation of Si-based clusters. The prolonged NA inhibits the hardness increase during bake-hardening (BH) treatment at 170 °C. The deterioration of the BH response appears to be due to the increase of the Si-rich clusters. Graphical abstract: