Effect of Pre-aging on Stress Corrosion Cracking of Spray-formed 7075 Alloy in Retrogression and Re-aging

The effects of pre-aging in retrogression and re-aging (RRA) treatment on microstructure, mechanical properties, and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of spray-formed 7075 aluminum alloy were investigated by tensile test, slow strain rate test, and transmission electron microscope. The results show that the under aging (120 °C for 16 h) as the pre-aging in RRA treatment can vastly improve the mechanical properties and the SCC resistance of the alloy, compared with early aging (120 °C for 8 h), peak aging (120 °C for 24 h), and over aging (120 °C for 32 h) treatments, the ultimate tensile strength of the alloy is 782 MPa, which is higher than that for peak aging or conventional RRA treatment; and the SCC resistance of the alloy is also excellent after RRA with under aging as pre-aging.