Abstract
Retrogression forming and reaging (RFRA) is a new warm-forming process designed to produce automotive structural components from high-strength aluminum alloys. A scientific approach is described to determine appropriate RFRA conditions for AA7075-T6 and is applied to laboratory-scale forming experiments. The concept of reduced time is used with the activation energy of retrogression measured for AA7075-T6 to predict appropriate times and temperatures for retrogression forming. Conditions recommended for AA7075-T6 are retrogression at 200 °C for 3 to 12 min while forming at strain rates of up to 10–1 s−1. The recommended reaging heat treatment to fully restore strength to the T6 condition after retrogression forming is 120 °C for 24 h. These RFRA conditions were successfully applied in laboratory-scale experiments to form AA7075-T6 Alclad sheet and produce a final strength equivalent to the T6 condition. Data from tensile tests provide flow stresses and tensile ductilities across the range of conditions appropriate for RFRA.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under GOALI grant number CMMI-1634495. The authors thank Brett Mobbs, Matthew Shick, Hyunwook Shin, and Tucker Roemer for their assistance in acquiring hardness and tensile data. The authors thank Hyunok Kim, Tom Feister, Laura Thomas, and Giacomo Melaragno of EWI for their technical support during the forming trials.
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Rader, K.E., Carter, J.T., Hector, L.G., Taleff, E.M. (2021). Review of Retrogression Forming and Reaging for AA7075-T6 Sheet. In: Perander, L. (eds) Light Metals 2021. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65396-5_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65396-5_30
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