Static softening following multistage hot deformation of 7150 aluminum alloy: Experiment and modeling

Previous studies have demonstrated that the static softening kinetics of 7150 aluminum alloy showed typical sigmoidal behavior at 400 °C and softening plateaus at 300 °C (F.L. Jiang, et al., Mater. Sci. Eng. A, vol. 552, 2012, pp. 269-275). In present work, the static softening mechanisms, the microstructural evolution during post-deformation holding was studied by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, electron back-scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It was demonstrated that recrystallization is essentially absent during post-deformation holding, and that static recovery was the main contribution to static softening. Strain induced precipitation and coarsening caused softening plateaus at 300 °C. In order to better understand the static softening mechanism, physically-based modeling, which integrated recovery and multicomponent particle coarsening modeling, was employed to rationalize the experimental results.