Aging behavior and fatigue crack propagation of high Zn-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys with zinc variation

In the present work, the influence of two-step aging treatments on hardness, electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of two high Zn-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys with zinc content variation was investigated and the detailed T76 aging parameters were proposed. The microstructure of the precipitates were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) and then quantitatively investigated with the aid of an image analysis. The fatigue performances were researched by the fatigue crack propagation (FCP) rate test and fracture morphology was observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the matrix precipitate size distributions of both alloys had significant difference, so as to fatigue crack propagation rates and fracture appearance. The shear and bypass mechanisms of dislocation-precipitate interactions were employed to explain the difference. Among the shearable precipitates, the proportion of larger size precipitates for the higher zinc content alloy is bigger than that for the lower zinc content alloy. The coarse shearable precipitates hinder the propagation of the fatigue cracks, leading to inferior FCP rate. For both alloys, the shear mechanism possesses the dominant factor, finally causing a preponderance in the FCP resistance for the higher zinc content alloy than the lower one.