Influence of retrogression and re-aging treatment on mechanical properties of the alloy EN AW 7049A-T6

Aluminum alloys of 7xxx series have the highest strength among all aluminium alloys, but they are prone to the corrosion-induced damage. The retrogression and re-aging heat treatment (RRA) is a heat treatment process applied on the 7xxx series aluminum alloy in T6 temper condition to provide a significant improvement of the corrosion resistance with or without small loss in its strength. The paper presents the influence of RRA treatment on the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of the aluminum EN AW 7049A-T6 alloy. The retrogression heat treatment was performed at various temperatures (from 180 C to 280 C) and times (from 3 min to 45 min), while re-aging was performed at 120 °C for 24 hours. It has been found that with increasing both temperature and time of retrogression, hardness and strength decrease but the toughness of the alloy increases in comparison to the initial T6 temper. Contrary to hardness values, electrical conductivity rises with an increase in holding time and temperature of retrogression.