With the popularization and application of intelligent manufacturing technology in the upgrading process of traditional manufacturing, higher requirements are put forward for the organization and performance evolution prediction of the processing and manufacturing process of high-performance metal materials. Compared with most material constitutive relationship models, the physical-based model that can integrate the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical properties of the processing process has precise quantitative advantages. The ultra-high strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu (7xxx series aluminum) alloy has the advantages of high specific strength, good fatigue resistance, and strong corrosion resistance. It is widely used in high-tech fields such as aerospace and transportation. In the multi-pass hot working process such as rolling and forging, the final properties of alloy products are not only affected by the dynamic structure evolution during the deformation process, but also by the static structure changes during the pass gap insulation, cooling or reheating. At present, the research on static softening of aluminum alloys at home and abroad is obviously lagging behind that of steel. In particular, the research on basic physical metallurgical theories and quantitative models such as softening mechanism is obviously weak.
Recently, Professor Zhang Hui’s team from our institute cooperated with Chunhui Luo of Swerim AB in Sweden to make progress in the study of physical-based models and softening mechanisms during the hot working of ultra-high-strength aluminum alloys. Process optimization design and engineering application of high-performance aluminum alloy intelligent manufacturing technology are of great significance.
On the basis of qualitative and quantitative microstructure characterization, researchers respectively established quantitative physical basis models of static softening such as precipitation, recovery and recrystallization, and integrated the complex interactions between the three to finally establish a comprehensive physical basis model of static softening , The established model can predict the effect of different alloying elements on the static softening of aluminum alloy, and reveal the relevant mechanism in depth. The related research results are published in the International Journal of Plasticity (the top international level in the field of metal plasticity) with the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Hunan University as the first unit. Journal, IF=6.49), the title is "Integrated physically based modeling for the multiple static softening mechanisms following multi-stage hot deformation in Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloys".
Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijplas.2020.102809