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The low cycle fatigue (LCF) performance of AA6063 Al–Mg–Si alloy at under-aged (UA), peak-aged (PA) and over-aged (OA) conditions has been examined to understand the micromechanism of fatigue and the associated dynamic structural changes in this alloy. The LCF behaviour of the differently aged AA6063 alloys has been studied at strain amplitudes ranging between 0.2 and 1.0% under strain control mode. The UA state exhibits pronounced cyclic hardening unlike the PA and the OA states at strain amplitudes greater than 0.4%. The PA and the OA states show hardening only for a few cycles followed by prolonged softening. Characterisations of the micro- and the sub-structural alterations due to LCF establish that the phenomenon of dynamic precipitation results in cyclic hardening the UA alloy. The softening of PA alloy occurs due to shearing of precipitates and that in the OA alloy takes place owing to reversibility of slip by the formation and annihilation of the Orowan loops around theβ(Mg2Si) precipitates. Analyses of the hysteresis loops reveal Masing, nearly-Masing and non-Masing behaviour in the UA, OA and PA states, respectively. Analyses of the asymmetry factor of the hysteresis loops assist to infer that the Masing behaviour in the UA alloy is due to dislocation–dislocation interactions, whereas the nearly-Masing behaviour in the OA alloy and the non-Masing behaviour in the PA alloy are the consequence of varying degrees of dislocation–precipitate interactions associated with inhomogeneous deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Age-hardened aluminium alloys have various degrees of precipitate-free zones (PFZs) along grain boundaries (GBs). The PFZs are weak zones and their existence promotes combined transgranular and intergranular fracture, thus reducing the ductility of the alloy. In this study, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is used to display the geometrical properties and the chemical composition of the PFZs in the AA7075-T651 aluminium alloy. PFZs are found along grain and sub-GBs and their widths are about 40 and 20 nm, respectively. The PFZs are depleted of alloying elements compared with the nominal composition due to GB precipitation, but still they contain a certain amount of such elements in solid solution which will contribute to increase the yield strength and the work hardening compared to pure aluminium. Based on the results from the TEM study, a micromechanical finite element model of an idealized microstructure including grains and soft zones along the GBs is established. The Gurson model was used to represent the behaviour of the material in the grains and in the soft zones, using different initial void volume fractions to account for GB precipitation. Several loading conditions were applied to the micromechanical model in order to evaluate the localization of strains inside the soft zones and thus to get a better understanding of the role of the PFZs in ductile fracture of age-hardened aluminium alloys. It was found that the global failure strain varies non-monotonically with the global stress triaxiality due to the heterogeneity of the idealized microstructure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Precipitates in a lean Al–Mg–Si alloy with low Cu addition (~0.10 wt.%) were investigated by aberration-corrected high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). Most precipitates were found to be disordered on the generally ordered network of Si atomic columns which is common for the metastable precipitate structures. Fragments of known metastable precipitates in the Al–Mg–Si–(Cu) alloy system are found in the disordered precipitates. It was revealed that the disordered precipitates arise as a consequence of coexistence of the Si-network. Cu atomic columns are observed to eitherin-between the Si-networkorreplacing a Si-network column. In both cases, Cu is the center in a three-fold rotational symmetry on the Si-network. Parts of unit cells of Q? phase were observed in the ends of a string-type precipitates known to extend along dislocation lines. It is suggested that the string-types form by a growth as extension of the B?/Q? precipitates initially nucleated along dislocation lines. Alternating Mg and Si columns form a well-ordered interface structure in the disordered Q? precipitate. It is identical to the interface of the Q? parts in the string-type precipitate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]