Prediction and Experimental of Yield Strengths of As-Quenched 7050 Aluminum Alloy Thick Plates after Continuous Quench Cooling

Abstract

The aim of this study was to predict the yield strength of as-quenched aluminum alloys according to their continuous quench cooling path. Our model was established within the framework of quench factor analysis (QFA) by representing a quenching curve as a series of consecutive isothermal transformation events and adding the yield strength increments after each isothermal step to predict the yield strength after continuous quench cooling. For simplification; it was considered that the effective hardeners during quenching were the nanosized solute clusters formed at low temperatures, whereas the other coarse precipitates were neglected. In addition, quenching tests were conducted on aluminum plates with different thicknesses. The predictions were compared with the experimental measurements, and the results showed that the predictions fit the measurements well for the 40- and 80-mm-thick plates but overestimated the as-quenched yield strength at the mid-thickness of the 115-mm-thick plates.