Hot deformation behavior of the new Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminum alloy during compression at elevated temperatures

The hot deformation behavior of the new Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminum alloy was investigated by compression tests in the temperature range 350 degrees C-550 degrees C and strain rate range 0.005s(-1)-5s(-1) using Gleeble-1500 system, and the associated structural changes were studied by observations of metallographic and TEM. The results show that the true stress-true strain curves exhibit a peak stress at a small strain (< 0.15), after which the flow stresses decrease monotonically until high strains, showing a dynamic flow softening. The stress level decreases with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate, which can be represented by a Zener-Hollomon parameter in an exponent-type equation with the hot deformation activation energy Q of 236kJ/ mol. The substructure in the deformed specimens consists of very small amount and fine precipitates with equaixed polygonized subgrains in the elongated grains and developed serrations in the grain boundaries, indicating that the dynamic flow softening is mainly as the result of dynamic recovery (DR) and recrystallization (RDX). (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.