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Age Hardening of A Sintered
Age Hardening of A Sintered
Division of Materials, School of Engineering, The University of Queensland, Qld 4072, Australia
b Centre for Microscopy & Microanaylsis, The University of Queensland, Qld 4072, Australia
Received in revised form 12 May 2005; accepted 19 May 2005
Abstract
The age hardening response of a sintered Al3.8 wt% Cu1.0 wt% Mg0.70 wt% Si alloy with and without 0.1 wt% Sn was investigated. The
sequence of precipitation was characterised using transmission electron microscopy. The ageing response of the sintered AlCuMgSi(Sn)
alloy is similar to that of cognate wrought 2xxx series alloys. Peak hardness was associated with a fine, uniform dispersion of lath shaped
precipitates, believed to be either the or Q phase, oriented along 0 1 0 directions and plates lying on {0 0 1} planes. Natural ageing
also resulted in comparable behaviour to that observed in wrought alloys. Porosity in the powder metallurgy alloys did not significantly affect
the kinetics of precipitation during artificial ageing. Trace levels of tin, used to aid sintering, slightly reduced the hardening response of the
alloy. However, this was compensated for by significant improvements in density and hardness.
2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Age hardening; Aluminium; Sintering; Powder metallurgy
1. Introduction
In recent years, the transport industry has been revolutionised through the use of light weight metals and plastics
[1,2]. There is particular interest in aluminium powder metallurgy (PM), as it is a means by which complex, net-shape,
light weight components can be produced cost effectively
[3]. Traditionally, aluminium powder products were thought
difficult to sinter and their properties deemed poor. Recent
research has found that it is possible to improve sintering of
pressed aluminium powders through the use of trace element
additions [47]. These alloys show a marked improvement in
strength and density to that of traditional press and sinter aluminium alloys. Specifically, the sintering response and subsequent material properties obtained using a typical 2xxx series
alloy (Al4.4Cu0.8Si0.5Mg) has been improved through
the addition of trace amounts of tin [5].
Current commercial aluminium powder metallurgy alloys
are based on the wrought 6xxx series (AlMgSi) and 2xxx
series (AlCuMg) of alloys [3], both of which exhibit age
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: d.kent@uq.edu.au (D. Kent).
0921-5093/$ see front matter 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2005.05.104
66
2. Experimental methods
The aluminium alloy used in this study was supplied by
Ampal Inc. as a pre-mix of elemental powders with a nominal
composition of Al3.8 wt% Cu1.0 wt% Mg0.70 wt% Si,
plus 1.5 wt% Acrawax as a die lubricant. To enable testing and
comparison of the age hardening response with and without
tin, air atomised tin powder was added to the alloy powders
prior to mixing. The tin concentration was 0.1 wt%. The alloy
containing tin is known as Ampalloy 2712.
The alloy powders were mixed for 30 min in a Turbula
mixer. The powders were compacted at 200 MPa using a
floating die and a hand operated Carver hydraulic press. The
powder compacts were generally prepared in the form of disc
shaped samples (10 mm 20 mm), though some smaller
cylindrical samples (10 mm 10 mm) were used for investigating hardness after short artificial ageing periods.
Sintering was performed in a sealed Modutemp horizontal
tube furnace, controlled by a Eurotherm BTC 9090 controller.
The samples were sintered under a high purity nitrogen atmosphere with a dewpoint of <60 C and <5 ppm O2 . The
sintering was done in two stages. The samples were heated
at 20 C min1 to 300 C and held at this temperature for 1 h
to allow de-waxing. They were then heated at 20 C min1
to 590 C, sintered at this temperature for 1 h and furnace
cooled to below 200 C, after which they were removed from
the furnace to air cool.
Solution treatment was performed in a sealed vertical tube
furnace, controlled by a Eurotherm BTC 9090 controller. The
samples were solution treated by heating at 20 C min1 to
500 C and holding for 1 h under a dry nitrogen atmosphere.
They were quenched directly into water at room temperature.
t
i=1
ni
n
(2.1)
Wi
Mi
t
ni
(2.2)
(2.3)
i=1
67
Fig. 2. Bright field TEM image of Ampalloy 2712 aged 3 h at 160 C viewed
along 0 0 1 showing coherent precipitates. Inset: corresponding SAED
pattern exhibiting streaking through {1 1 0} positions.
68
Fig. 3. Bright field TEM image of Ampalloy 2712 aged 6 h at 160 C viewed
near 0 0 1 exhibiting three orthogonal variations of a needle shaped precipitate phase oriented along 0 1 0 . Inset: corresponding SAED pattern
with streaks through {1 1 0} positions that exhibit maxima about these
positions.
Fig. 4. Ampalloy 2712 aged 16 h at 160 C: (a) bright field TEM image viewed near 0 0 1 showing two primary precipitate morphologies, a plate shaped
phase on {0 0 1} and a lath shaped phase oriented along 0 1 0 . Inset: corresponding SAED pattern exhibiting diffraction spots at {1 1 0} positions with
maxima surrounding these positions. (b) SAED pattern obtained after prolonged exposure. The diffraction spot labelled is thought to relate to (1 1 3) .
Fig. 5. Ampalloy 2712 aged 96 h at 160 C: (a) bright field TEM image
viewed near 0 0 1 revealing precipitate microstructure. Inset: corresponding SAED pattern exhibiting diffraction spots at {1 1 0} positions and
streaking along 1 0 0 directions. (b) Higher magnification image of (a)
showing plate shaped precipitates, marked A, and lath shaped precipitates,
marked B.
slightly reduced copper concentration. Researchers investigating early sintered PM alloys also noted that 2xxx series
type alloy compositions responded well to age hardening
[24,25]. However, those alloys differed significantly from the
alloy used in the present study in that they had a finer grain
size and were produced using greater compaction pressures
of the order of 8001000 MPa.
Microstructures typical of Ampalloy 2712 in the slightly
over-aged condition, obtained after ageing for 96 h at 160 C,
are shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5(a) shows a plate shaped phase lying
on {0 0 1} planes and a lath shaped phase oriented along
0 1 0 directions, with the corresponding SAED pattern
inset. This pattern exhibits well-developed superlattice spots
at {1 1 0} together with continuous streaking and intensity maxima parallel to 1 0 0 about the {1 1 0} positions.
Fig. 5(b) shows the two primary precipitate morphologies at
a higher magnification, marked A and B. A is a plate shaped
69
Fig. 6. Ampalloy 2712 aged 96 h at 160 C: (a) bright field TEM image viewed near 0 0 1 showing a large precipitate with Moire fringes roughly oriented
along [0 1 0] . (b) Higher magnification image of (a) revealing Moire fringes measured at 1.68 nm spacings.
70
Fig. 8. Bright field TEM image of Ampalloy 2712 aged 12 days at room
temperature viewed near 0 0 1 exhibiting mottled microstructure textured
along 0 1 0 . Inset: corresponding SAED pattern with streaking between
matrix spots oriented along 1 0 0 directions.
Fig. 7. Bright field TEM image of Ampalloy 2712 in the very over-aged
condition (aged 150 h at 200 C) showing large coarse plate and lath shaped
precipitates, viewed near 0 0 1 . Inset: corresponding SAED pattern showing diffraction spots at and surrounding the {1 1 0} positions.
71
Fig. 10. Typical optical microstructure of Ampalloy 2712 at 96% theoretical density. The black intergranular regions are pores.
Fig. 9. Ampalloy 2712 aged 12 days at room temperature. Bright field
TEM image viewed near 0 0 1 showing helical dislocations oriented
along 0 1 0 directions. Inset: corresponding SAED pattern with streaking
between matrix spots oriented along 1 0 0 directions.
Fig. 11. Linear relationship between maximum hardness and porosity for
porosity levels between 3.5 and 20% at various ageing temperatures for
Ampalloy 2712.
72
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgement
This work was funded by Ampal Inc., a member of the
US Bronze Group of Companies, whose support is gratefully
acknowledged.
References
Fig. 13. Bright field TEM image of tin free alloy aged 294 h at 140 C viewed
near 0 0 1 . It shows plate shaped precipitates on {0 0 1} planes together
with needle/rod shaped precipitates oriented along 0 1 0 directions and
the corresponding SAED pattern (inset).
73
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