Mechanical behavior and microstructure evolution during deformation of AA7075-T651

In view of developing a physics-based constitutive material model for AA7075-T651, the mechanical behavior and microstructure evolution of the material has been studied through compression tests using Gleeble thermo-mechanical simulator. The tests were performed at wide range of temperatures (room temperature (RT), 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 °C) with two constant strain rates (0.01 and 1 s-1). The true stress-strain curves depicted an increase in the flow stress with increase in the strain rate and decrease in the deformation temperature, with an exception at RT. The effects of softening mechanisms, such as adiabatic heating, dissolution of precipitates, dynamic recovery (DRV) and dynamic recrystallization (DRX), on the flow stress level, strain rate sensitivity (SRS) and temperature sensitivity over the entire range of temperatures were analyzed. Pertaining to the microstructure analysis, the intermetallic particles present in the initial as-received (AR) material were identified as (Al,Cu)6(Fe,Cu) and SiO2 with the help of back-scattered electron (BSE) imaging and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The microstructure of the material after the deformation processes were analyzed and compared with that of the AR state using inverse pole figures (IPF), grain orientation spread (GOS) and grain boundary rotation maps generated from electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) scans. DRV was observed for deformation at 300 °C, whereas a combination of DRV and incomplete DRX took place for 400 and 500 °C depending on the strain rate. The fraction of recrystallized grains was higher in case of deformation at higher temperature and lower strain rate. Furthermore, the difference in microstructure evolution on different surfaces of the deformed samples as well as at different locations on individual surfaces was also investigated.