In this work, solution heat treatments at different temperatures were performed in a commercial based AA7050 aluminium alloy, with and without titanium addition, produced by mechanical alloying and hot extrusion with the aim to investigate the effect of titanium addition and mechanical alloying in the precipitates stability. The same heat treatment conditions were used in a reference sample obtained from a commercial AA7050 alloy. Solution heat treated samples were characterised by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), optical microscopy and hardness test. Once the better temperature for the solution treatment of modified alloys was defined, the ageing curve at 120°C was obtained to verify the effect of milling and Ti addition in the precipitation and in the maximum values of hardness obtained for the alloys.
The authors acknowledge the financial support by FAPESP and CNPq under the sponsor projects 00/05353-9 and 490111/2003-3, respectively, and the Spanish Ministry for Education and Culture, projects MAT2003-00722 and MAT2006-011251.
Peer reviewed