Characterization of hot workability in AA 7050 aluminum alloy using activation energy and 3-D processing map

For characterizing the hot workability of high-strength AA7050 aluminum alloy, constitutive equations and processing maps were established. The activation energy values under different conditions were obtained by the constitutive analyses. The effects of the processing parameters on the activation energy were discussed, and the hot workability has also been discussed in detail considering the activation energy and processing maps. Combined traditional and 3-D processing maps, the stable and instable processing conditions of whole deformation process can be determined. By observing the microstructure evolution, the higher power dissipation of stable domains could be mainly due to the occurrence of continuous dynamic recrystallization, while the flow instability of instable domains may be caused by other microstructural characters, such as flow localization, micro cracks, particles cracking and debonding, etc. The optimized processing parameters for AA7050 aluminum alloy were determined by the processing maps and the metalworking system.