Superplastic behaviour of Al–Zn–Mg–Cu–Zr alloy AA7010 containing Sc

The influence of small addition of Sc on the superplastic potential of Al–Zn–Mg–Cu–Zr alloy AA 7010 has been examined. The alloy was subjected to a three-step thermo-mechanical process (TMP) and the resultant material (having essentially an unrecrystallized grain structure) was subjected to a strain rate–temperature combination of 1.9 × 10−2 s−1, 475 °C to develop recrystallized grain structure amenable to superplastic deformation. This resulted in a total elongation of 650%.