High Strain Rate Superplasticity in Al-Zn-Mg-Based Alloy: Microstructural Design, Deformation Behavior, and Modeling

Increasing the strain rate at superplastic forming is a challenging technical and economic task of aluminum forming manufacturing. New aluminum sheets exhibiting high strain rate superplasticity at strain rates above 0.01 s(-1) are required. This study describes the microstructure and the superplasticity properties of a new high-strength Al-Zn-Mg-based alloy processed by a simple thermomechanical treatment including hot and cold rolling. The new alloy contains Ni to form Al3Ni coarse particles and minor additions of Zr (0.19 wt.%) and Sc (0.06 wt.%) to form nanoprecipitates of the L1(2)-Al-3 (Sc,Zr) phase. The design of chemical and phase compositions of the alloy provides superplasticity with an elongation of 600-800% in a strain rate range of 0.01 to 0.6/s and residual cavitation less than 2%. A mean elongation-to-failure of 400% is observed at an extremely high constant strain rate of 1 s(-1). The strain-induced evolution of the grain and dislocation structures as well as the L1(2) precipitates at superplastic deformation is studied. The dynamic recrystallization at superplastic deformation is confirmed. The superplastic flow behavior of the proposed alloy is modeled via a mathematical Arrhenius-type constitutive model and an artificial neural network model. Both models exhibit good predictability at low and high strain rates of superplastic deformation.