Superior mechanical properties induced by the interaction between dislocations and precipitates in the electro-pulsing treated Al-Mg-Si alloys

The effect of electric pulsing treatment (EPT) on the solid-solutioned Al-Mg-Si alloy was investigated in this paper. It was interestingly found that EPT promoted the precipitation of the stable Al5FeSi phase. Besides, the precipitates pinned the dislocations effectively, thus the dislocations would be remained after the aging process. Moreover, the most interesting phenomenon was that the deformation bands induced by the remained tangled dislocation made the precipitates Mg2Si from rod-like to globular. Consequently, the superior strength (47.2% higher than T6 temper) alloy nearly without loss of ductility was obtained.