Ahmed, A.Q.; Olasz, D.; Bobruk, E.V.; Valiev, R.Z.; Chinh, N.Q. Microstructure Evolution during High-Pressure Torsion in a 7xxx AlZnMgZr Alloy. Materials2024, 17, 585.
Ahmed, A.Q.; Olasz, D.; Bobruk, E.V.; Valiev, R.Z.; Chinh, N.Q. Microstructure Evolution during High-Pressure Torsion in a 7xxx AlZnMgZr Alloy. Materials 2024, 17, 585.
Ahmed, A.Q.; Olasz, D.; Bobruk, E.V.; Valiev, R.Z.; Chinh, N.Q. Microstructure Evolution during High-Pressure Torsion in a 7xxx AlZnMgZr Alloy. Materials2024, 17, 585.
Ahmed, A.Q.; Olasz, D.; Bobruk, E.V.; Valiev, R.Z.; Chinh, N.Q. Microstructure Evolution during High-Pressure Torsion in a 7xxx AlZnMgZr Alloy. Materials 2024, 17, 585.
Abstract
A homogenized, supersaturated Al-Zn-Mg-Zr alloy was processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD) using high-pressure torsion (HPT) technique for different revolutions at room temperature to get ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the UFG samples were then studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as by tensile and hardness measurements. Emphasis was placed on the effect of shear strain on the evolution of microstructure of the investigated alloy. Experimental results have shown a very interesting evolution of the decomposed microstructure in a wide range of shear strains imposed by HPT. While the global properties, such as the average grain size (~200 nm) and hardness (~2.2 GPa) appeared unchanged, the local microstructure was continuously transformed. After 1 turn of HPT, the decomposed UFG structure contains relatively large precipitates inside grains. In the sample processed by 5 turns in HPT, segregation of Zn atoms into grain boundaries (GBs) can also be observed. After 10 turns, more Zn atoms have segregated into GBs and only smaller size precipitates can be observed inside grains. The intensive segregation of solute atoms into GBs may significantly affect the ductility of the materials, leading to its ultralow-temperature superplasticity. Our findings pave the way for achieving advanced microstructural and mechanical properties in nanostructured metals and alloys by engineering their precipitation and segregation by means of applying different HPT regimes.
Chemistry and Materials Science, Materials Science and Technology
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