Age-hardening behavior of powder metallurgy AA2014 alloy

The aim of this paper is to investigate age hardening behavior of PM AA2014 alloy. The specimens were made by powder metallurgy (PM) method. During the PM the product was made from powder basic materials by pressing (at 600 MPa) and sintering (600 ± 5 °C, 610 ± 5 °C, 620 ± 5 °C). There were three steps that occur in age-hardening; solution treatment (510 ± 5 °C), quenching (water) and aging (20 °C, 150 ± 5 °C, 200 ± 5 °C). Metal microscopy and micro Vickers hardness test were carried out to characterize the structure properties resulting from different aging temperature. The hardness test results showed that the sintering temperature, suitable solution treatment and aging operations has great influence on hardness characteristics of the PM alloys.