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This paper analyses effects of boiling treatment of aluminum alloys (Al–(5-10)% Cu and Al–(5-10)% Si) in oxidizing atmosphere on their microstructure, hydrogen content and coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLE). Boiling treatment was conducted in water solutions of KMnO4and KOH. Following an increase of boiling time from 15 to 75 hours hydrogen content in alloys first increases and then decreases which correlates with the dynamics of alloys’ microstructure and their coefficient of linear expansion. This study shows that atmosphere with high oxygen content induces acceleration of diffusion processes in aluminum alloys. If boiling time does not exceed 30 hours, hydrogen content in solid solution and etchability of grain boundaries of α-solid solution decrease and intermediate phases get partially dissolved. In our empirical study we demonstrated that boiling treatment of aluminum alloys in oxidizing atmosphere in the range of test temperatures 50-450°С leads to a reduction of the coefficient of linear expansion. The decrease of the coefficient of linear expansion is especially strong in the temperature range of 250-350°С. In particular, after boiling treatment of alloys Al–(5-10)% Cu in oxidizing athmosphere in the temperature range of 50–250°С their coefficient of linear expansion goes down by 10-12%. For alloys Al–(5-10)% Si boiling has a stronger effect on the coefficient of linear expansion – in the temperature range 250-350°С the CLE of these alloys decreases by 24-28%.

The results of the influence of preliminary thermal cyclic deformation and subsequent hardening heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of hot-rolled sheet steel 10 are presented. It is shown that the use of preliminary thermal cyclic deformation of the steel 10 stock material results in a fine-grained structure of a hot-rolled sheet (3 mm thick) produced by an industrial technology. Deformation occurred at a temperature above AC3 (1250 °C), with cooling to 200-300 °C during 10 cycles and the deformation ratio per cycle being 6-8 %. Such a treatment before sheet hot-rolling allows increasing the strength characteristics (tensile strength, yield strength) by almost 30 %. It has been established that the use of subsequent heat treatment (quenching, 900 °C, water and tempering 1 h, 600 °C) leads to a further increase in strength characteristics by 15-20% while maintaining a sufficient level of ductility of sheet steel.