The production of material with ultrafine grain structure in Al-Zn alloy in the process of rapid solidification

Abstract

In the aluminium alloy family, Al-Zn materials with non-standard chemical composition containing Mg and Cu are a new group of alloys, mainly owing to their high strength properties. Proper choice of alloying elements, and of the method of molten metal treatment and casting enable further shaping of the properties. One of the modern methods to produce materials with submicron structure is a method of Rapid Solidification. The ribbon cast in a melt spinning device is an intermediate product for further plastic working. Using the technique of Rapid Solidification it is not possible to directly produce a solid structural material of the required shape and length. Therefore, the ribbon of an ultrafine grain or nanometric structure must be subjected to the operations of fragmentation, compaction, consolidation and hot extrusion. In this article the authors focussed their attention on the technological aspect of the above mentioned process and described successive stages of the fabrication of an AlZn9Mg2.5Cu1.8 alloy of ultrafine grain structure designated for further plastic working, which enables making extruded rods or elements shaped by the die forging technology. Studies described in the article were performed under variable parameters determined experimentally in the course of the alloy manufacturing process, including casting by RS and subsequent fragmentation.