Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1 – 8

Accelerated aging processes in SiC-7020 aluminium composite

Z.M. El-Baradie *, O.A. El-Shahat, A.N. Abd El-Azim
Central Metallurgical Research and De6elopment Institute, P.O. Box 87, El-Tebbin, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt

Received 14 March 1996

Abstract

The composite material produced in this investigation was 7020 aluminium alloy unreinforced and reinforced with 5 and 10%
volume fraction SiC particulates. The aging behaviour of the unreinforced and reinforced materials was studied for both natural
and artificial aging at 170°C. The results show that the incorporation of 5 and 10 vol.% of SiCp can be improved considerably
by natural or artificial aging. Also, the effect of deformation for both unreinforced and composite alloys was studied. The results
show that the deformation altered the aging precipitation sequence significantly: the greater the deformation, the higher the
dislocation densities and hence, the faster the precipitation. Generally, deformation accelerated aging and hence, peak hardness
occurred earlier. Also, appreciable increase in hardness and faster kinetics were obtained by the introduction of thermomechanical
processing to these alloys. The results show that the application of TMT is highly recommendable to improve the strength of both
the unreinforced and composite alloys. © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Aluminium composites; Silicon carbide particles; Aging; Cold work; Precipitation kinetics; Hardness; Thermomechanical treatment
(TMT)

1. Introduction However, different results have been reported in the

Recently, there has been a growing interest in using
SiC reinforced Al composites as a structural material
[1]. The special interest in Al – SiC composites is related
to their high strength and high elastic modulus at room
or elevated temperatures [2]. It has been found that
despite the above advantages of SiC reinforced Al-com-
posites, they suffer from low ductility, low values of
fracture toughness, and their high-temperature strength
remains dominated primarily by the strength of the
alloy matrix [3].
The age-hardening behaviour of discontinuously re-
inforced aluminium matrix composites has been a sub-
ject of great interest both from scientific and
technological view-points. The nature of the change in
the kinetics and the magnitude of hardening during
aging of these composites depend on: (a) the matrix
material [4]; (b) the type of reinforcement including its
size, shape and volume fraction [5]; (c) the method of
processing the composite [2]; (d) the temperature of
aging [6]; and (e) the post-fabrication treatment [7].
* Corresponding author. Fax: +20 2 790898.
case of the hardening behaviour of ceramic reinforced
Al alloy composites [8,9]. Suresh et al. [10] reported
rapid hardening of Al composites during aging at
190°C compared to the unreinforced alloy. Also, Song
et al. [11] studied the aging behaviour of SiC reinforced
6061 Al-composites and concluded that SiC accelerated
the aging reactions and decreased the time to achieve
the peak-aged condition. However, Harris et al. [6]
have shown that SiC additions have no influence on the
room-temperature aging kinetics of Al-composites com-
pared to the unreinforced alloy.
In the light of the above inconsistencies in these
previous investigations, the present work is aimed at
understanding the aging behaviour of 7020 Al alloy
reinforced with different percentages of SiC particles
and subjected to different degrees of cold-worked
reduction.
2. Experimental procedure
A commercial 7020 Al-alloy was used in this work as
the matrix alloy with the following composition in

0924-0136/98/$19.00 © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

PII S0924-0136(97)00096-4
2 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8
wt.%: 0.33 Si, 0.4 Fe, 0.2 Cu, 0.5 Mn, 1.5 Mg, 0.30 Cr,
5.0 Zn, 0.25 Ti, 0.2 Zr, balance Al. SiC particles were
added to the molten alloy using the vortex method, the
volume fractions of this reinforcement being 5 and
10%. The sizes of the SiC particles lay between 40–100
mm. The process of preparation has been explained in
detail elsewhere [12]. Specimens sectioned from the
composite and from the control aluminium alloy were
subjected to a solution treatment at 540°9 10°C in air
for 2 h and then quenched in water at room tempera-
ture. These specimens were subjected to different heat
treating procedures. (1) natural aging at room tempera-
ture; (2) artificial aging at 170°C; (3) 10 and 30%
deformation after solid solution, then natural and artifi-
cial aging; and (4) TMT consisting of pre-aging at room
temperature for 24 h, cold deformation to different
reductions (10, 20 and 30%) and then final aging at
170°C. All of the prepared specimens were refrigerated
immediately after deformation to prevent room-temper-
ature aging.
Hardness measurements were performed using a
Vickers hardness tester with a load of 10 kgf. Each
hardness values was averaged over 10 measurements.
Hardness values were determined as a function of aging
time for the four aging heat-treatment conditions.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Aging kinetics
The effect of natural and artificial aging at 170°C
based on hardness measurements (Hv) for both unrein-
forced and composite alloys are indicated in Figs. 1 and
2. The general shape of the aging curves for both
conditions show similar characteristics, which means
that the addition of SiC in 7020 Al alloy does not
change the aging sequence. Fig. 1 shows the natural
aging for the composite and the unreinforced alloy,
from which plot it is clearly evident that the hardness
first increases as the aging time increases and then
levels-off. The peak hardness value has not been at-
tained. The present results show that the maximum
increase in hardness for the matrix alloy is 80 Hv at 140
h and for 10 vol.% of SiCp reinforced alloy is 98 Hv at
80 h. On the other hand, the general shape of aging
curves at 170°C follows those naturally aged except
that there are hardness peak values for both unrein-
forced and composite alloys. Fig. 2 shows the plot of
hardness vs. aging time for the composite and the
unreinforced alloy aged at 170°C. The results show that
the incorporation of 5 and 10 vol.% of SiCp enhanced
the kinetics of hardening. The peak hardness for the
matrix is 85 Hv at 26 h and for the composite alloys are
118 Hv at 18 h for 5 vol.% SiCp and 125 Hv at 15 h for
10 vol.% SiCp.
The aging sequence observed in the unreinforced and
composites for 7020 Al alloy is essentially that as
reported previously for other 7000 series alloys [3] i.e.:
SSS“ GPZ“ M% “M(MgZn2)
where SSS= supersaturated solid solution, GPZ=co-
herent spherical Gunier–Preston zones, M% = semi-co-
herent transition phase and M= incoherent equilibrium
MgZn2 phase. Quantitative information on the sizes
and distribution of GPZ, M% and M in the unreinforced
and reinforced 7020 alloy matrix composites is cur-
rently unavailable.
The above results show that the hardness of unrein-
forced and reinforced alloys can be improved consider-
ably by natural aging at room temperature or by
artificial aging at 170°C. This increase in hardness in
natural aging may be attributed to the formation of
G.P. zones which act as obstacles to dislocation mo-
tion. At the aging temperature of 170°C, the G.P. zones
are replaced by more precipitates of M%, hence more
hardening and an accelerated rate of aging are noted
[13,14].
Generally speaking, the incorporation of SiCp into
7020 Al alloys increases the peak hardness, the increase
being maintained during either natural or artificial ag-
ing. This increase in hardness can be attributed to the
higher hardness of SiC particles and the increase in the
concentration of dislocation around the reinforcement
particles (SiCp), which in turn affect the precipitation
process. At the same time, the thermal expansion coeffi-
cient of Al is almost eight times higher than that of the
SiCp. Hence when the composite is quenched from the
solutionizing temperature, a large amount of plastic
strain develops due to the thermal mismatch. This
strain is accommodated by the generation of extra
dislocations leading to a higher dislocation density in
the matrix of the composite compared to that in the
unreinforced alloy. Suresh et al. [10] have measured the
dislocation density and shown that it is approximately
6× 109 cm − 2 in the unreinforced alloy, whereas in the
composite it can be as high as 2× 1010 cm − 2. The
quenching stress thus produced can also lead to the
formation of excess free vacancies by unlocking vacan-
cies from vacancy enhanced solution diffusion in the
matrix of the composite can help the G.P. zone forma-
tion [15,16] and thus accelerate the aging kinetics com-
pared to that in the unreinforced alloy.
3.2. Effect of deformation
Hardness–time curves of naturally-aged alloys with
different degrees of deformation for unreinforced and
composite alloys are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The
general curve of these alloys with different degrees of
deformation follows the same aging sequence as with-
out deformation i.e. the peak hardness value has not
 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8 3

Fig. 1. Variation of hardness with time during room temperature aging.

Fig. 2. Variation of hardness with time during high temperature (170°C) aging.

been attained. A small variation of the peak hardness
values resulted from different degrees of deformation
and different vol.% of SiCp. This increase in hardness
can be due to work-hardening effect. Deformation-ac-
celerated aging and hence peak hardness occurred ear-
lier, Table 1.
Figs. 5 and 6 show the change in hardness with the
aging time at 170°C with different degrees of deforma-
tion for the unreinforced and composite alloys. In the
presence of cold work, however, there is a drop in
hardness at the initial stages of aging, the value of
which is greater for 30 cold work than in the case of
10% cold work. On continued aging, the hardness
show a maximum in the aging curves. The magnitude
of hardening and the peak hardness values for both
the composite and the unreinforced alloy for 10 and
30% cold work are nearly the same. On the other
hand, the aging time required to attain peak hardness
is influenced by the amount of deformation. The time
taken to reach the peak hardness of the composites is
17 h for the 5 vol.% SiC, and 13 h for the 10 vol.%
SiC, whereas the unreinforced alloy reaches the peak
value after 21 h for 10% cold work. At higher degrees
of deformation (30%) the peak hardness of the unrein-
forced and composite alloys is found to shift to
shorter times, Table 1.
These results show that the deformation altered the
aging precipitation sequence significantly. Therefore,
4 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8

Fig. 3. Variation of hardness with time during room temperature aging after 10% deformation.

Fig. 4. Variation of hardness with time during room temperature aging after 30% deformation.

the enhanced dislocations density in the unreinforced
and composite materials after cold deformation accel-
erated the M% formation. Generally, the dislocations
provided ample heterogeneous nucleation sites for M%
precipitation: the greater the deformation, the higher
the dislocation densities and hence the faster the pre-
cipitation, Table 1.
Also, there is a drop in hardness at the beginning
of the aging curves of deformed alloys. This could be
attributed to the effect of the elimination and the
relaxation of deformation distortion softening, which
is more predominant in the initial stage. By increasing
the aging time, M% are formed due to the higher rates
of decomposition as a result of the presence of dislo-
cations, which latter are considered favoured sites for
nuclei formation [17].
As conclusion, it can be suggested that the acceler-
ated effect due to the addition of reinforcements is
less than that due to cold deformation. It is possibly
due to cold deformation producing a large number of
dislocations that were evenly distributed throughout
the matrix. For both cold worked Al alloy and the
 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8 5

Table 1
Summary of aging response for 7020 (AlZnMg) alloys

System studied Reduction (%) Aging tempera- Time taken for Peak hardness Remarks
ture (°C) peak Hv (h) (Hv)

Age hardening
0% SiC — 25 140 80 Natural
5% SiC — 25 92 94
10% SiC — 25 80 98
0% SiC — 170 26 85 Artificial
5% SiC — 170 18 118
10% SiC — 170 15 125
Effect of degree of deformation on aging
0% SiC 10 25 120 82 Natural
5% SiC 10 25 80 102
10% SiC 10 25 76 105
0% SiC 10 170 21 89 Artificial
5% SiC 10 170 17 118
10% SiC 10 170 13 125
0% SiC 30 25 92 85 Natural
5% SiC 30 25 68 100
10% SiC 30 25 60 105
0% SiC 30 170 15 94 Artificial
5% SiC 30 170 12 115
10% SiC 30 170 10 115
Thermomechanical treatment (TM)
0% SiC 10 170 12 105 Preaging at room temperature for 24 h and then
cold deformation
10% SiC 10 170 10 110
0% SiC 20 170 9 107
10% SiC 20 170 8 113
5% SiC 30 170 7 101
10% SiC 30 170 6 102

composite system, the peaks are found to start at a
shorter time than that of the undeformed materials.
In summary, it can be suggested that an increase in
the dislocation density in the matrix because of cold
working resulted in accelerated aging, Table 1.
Hardening increments due to cold working are es-
sentially superimposed on the peak hardness attained
in final aging. Therefore, appreciable increase in
strength can be expected by the introduction of ther-
momechanical processing to these alloys.

3.3. Thermo-mechanical treatment

The effects of cold deformation after solutionizing
and natural aging for 24 h, on the age-hardening
curves in final aging at 170°C are shown in Figs. 7–9
for unreinforced and reinforced with 10 vol.% SiCp. It
is noticed that there is a drop in hardness in the initial
stage hich can be attributed to the recrystallization
effect, as mentioned earlier [17]. The peak hardness
values are higher for composite material than for un-
reinforced material, which means that TMT appeared
to accelerate the precipitation and hence resulted in a
shorter time to attain peak hardness and, at the same
time, the pre-aging has no effect on the hardness val-
ues of the peak compared with those of Figs. 5 and 6,
which are almost the same for each particular
deformation.
4. Conclusions
It is found that the overall age-hardening sequence of
the matrix is not changed by the addition of SiC
particles. In the case of natural aging, the hardness first
increases and then levels-off. On the other hand, there
are hardness peak values in the case of artificial aging
at 170°C.
The results show that the addition of SiCp to the
matrix alloy increases the peak hardness value and that
this increase is maintained during either natural or
artificial aging.
The precipitation kinetics of the matrix alloy are
accelerated by the presence of SiC particles, i.e. the time
to achieve peak hardness is shorter in the composite
than in the matrix alloy.
6 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8

Fig. 5. Variation of hardness with time during high temperature (170°C) aging after 10% deformation.

Fig. 6. Variation of hardness with time during high temperature (170°C) aging after 30% deformation.

The observed accelerated hardening of the com-
posites during aging could possibly be attributed to
the presence of excess dislocations in the matrix of
the composites, thermal mismatch between the SiC
and Al being responsible for the generation of these
excess dislocations in the matrix of the composites.
It is found that both the cold-worked aluminium
alloy and composite with approximately the same
amount of plastic deformation, have a faster precipi-
tation transformation as compared with that of the
undeformed materials. The precipitation was acceler-
ated in both the composite and the matrix alloy be-
cause of cold deformation.
The observed accelerated hardening of both the
matrix and the composite during cold deformation
may be due to the high density of dislocations and
 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8 7

Fig. 7. Variation of hardness with time during high temperature (170°C) aging after TMT process (10% def.).

Fig. 8. Variation of hardness with time during high temperature (170°C) aging after TMT process (20% def.).

point defects introduced into the materials by cold
working, which provided heterogeneous nucleation
sites for M% and made the occurrence of precipitation
easier.
Also, TMT appeared to accelerate the precipitation
and hence resulted in a shorter time to attain peak
hardness, whilst at the same time the pre-aging has no
effect on the values of hardness.
The increase of strength by thermomechanical pro-
cessing can be attributed to the superposition of the
strengthening effects from work hardening and from
age hardening.
8 Z.M. El-Baradie et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 79 (1998) 1–8

Fig. 9. Variation of hardness with time during high temperature (170°C) aging after TMT process (30% def.).

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