Investigations on Warm Rolling and Post-Rolling Aging of 7075 Alloy

The effect of warm rolling and three aging treatments on microstructure and mechanical properties of 7075 alloy was investigated via optical microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and tensile tests. 7075 alloy was warm rolled and then were solution treated followed by three different aging processes viz., one-step, two-step and three-step aging. Results show that the ductility of 7075 alloy is improved during warm rolling and the strength increases with increasing total warm-rolled reduction. The average grain size decreases after aging compared with that in the solution state. The microstructure of the one-stage aged sample consists of elongated grains and equiaxed grains while almost completely equiaxed microstructure is obtained in solutionized, two-stage and three-stage aged samples. The distributions of dislocations, precipitates and grain refinement influence mechanical properties together. The one-stage aged sample possesses a combination of acceptable strength and excellent ductility. Two-stage and three-stage aged samples have higher elongations but lower strengths.