Microstructure, tensile and fatigue properties of high strength Al 7075 alloy manufactured via twin-roll strip casting

High strength Al 7075 alloy was manufactured via twin-roll strip casting (TRC) process, and its microstructure, tensile and fatigue properties were investigated. Commercial Al 7075 alloy fabricated via direct-chill (DC) casting process was also used for comparison. T6 and T651 heat treatments were implemented for both the materials to precipitate MgZn2(η) phases. The TRC alloy showed globular grain shape with η phases evenly distributed at the grain boundary and matrix interior, while the DC alloy showed elongated grains due to hot forging process and η phases clumped together at grain boundaries. The TRC alloy’s yield strength was 518.5 MPa, tensile strength was 578.2 MPa, and elongation was 6.9%. Comparing both the alloys’ mechanical properties, the TRC alloy’s strength was at least about 40 MPa higher and elongation was about 4% lower than the DC alloy. The TRC alloy showed about 20 MPa higher fatigue (fatigue limit) than the DC alloy. The DC alloy was observed to have coarse cracks on fatigue fractured surface. By contrast, the TRC alloy showed uniform fractured surface without coarse cracks, and the evenly-distributed η phases improved fatigue resistance efficiently. The present study sought to examine the correlation among TRC process-led microstructure, tensile and high-cycle fatigue properties while discussing the strengthening mechanism.