Rapid Dissolution of Secondary Phase in Cold-Rolling Al-Cu-Mg Alloy by Electropulsing Treatment

Abstract

The Al-Cu-Mg alloy is a precipitation-strengthening alloy, which is traditionally dissolving lots of secondary phase and precipitating in subsequent aging process, thus having been applied to aerospace and automobile industry due to its low density and high strength. However, the high temperature and long operating time needed for the dissolution of secondary phase consume numerous energy. In this work, rapid dissolution of secondary phase in cold-rolling Al-Cu-Mg alloy was achieved by coupling treatment of thermal field and pulsed electric current. The energy consumption for dissolving secondary phasewas reduced from 495°C operating 1h to 450°C operating several minutes. Therefore, the coupling treatment of thermal field and pulsed electric current significantly improves the dissolving rate and decreases the energy consumption.