The exfoliation corrosion (EFC) behavior of 7050-T6 aluminum alloy treated with various quench transfer time after solution heat treatment was investigated by standard EFC immersion tests, strength loss measurements after EFC tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscope (EIS) technique. The results showed that EFC resistance of the alloy decreased with increasing quench transfer time. Backscattered electron scanning electron microscope (SEM) together with transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations revealed that the coverage ratio and microstructure of precipitates at grain boundary area are the most important factors which influence the EFC susceptibility of the alloy, while precipitate-free zone (PFZ) near grain boundary has no or only a minor effect on it. In addition, galvanostatic measurements of the alloy present a good correlation between EFC resistance and transients in potential. The cumulated number of transients in potential can be used to evaluate EFC resistance of the alloy.

The precipitation behavior and its influence on the electrical resistivity of the Al-0.96Mg₂Si alloy during aging were investigated with in-situ resistivity measurement and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The precipitates of the peak aged alloy include both β″ and β′, but the amount ratio of β″ to β′ varies with the aging temperature and time increasing. The precipitates during aging at 175 °C are dominated by needle-like β″ phases (including pre-β″ phase), the size of which increases with the time prolonging, but does not increase substantially after further aging. The evolution of electrical conductivity is directly related to such microstructural evolution. However, the hardness of the alloy stays at the peak value for a long term. When the alloy is aged at 195 °C, the ratio of β″ to β′ becomes the main factor to influence relative resistivity (？ρ) value. The higher the temperature is, the smaller the ratio is, and the faster the ？ρ value decreases. Moreover, the hardness peak drops with the decrease of the ratio. With the size and distribution parameters measured from TEM images, a semi-quantitative relationship between precipitates and the electrical resistivity was established.

The effect of homogenization time on quench sensitivity of a cast 7085 aluminum alloy was investigated by means of end-quenching test, optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that with the increase of homogenization time from 48 h to 384 h, quench sensitivity increased slightly as the largest difference in the hardness was increased from 5.2% to 6.9% in the end-quenched and aged specimens. Prolonging homogenization had little effect on the grain structure, but improved the dissolution of soluble T phase and resulted in larger Al₃Zr dispersoids with a low number density. Some small quench-induced η phase particles on Al₃Zr dispersoids were observed inside grains during slow quenching, which decreased hardness after subsequent aging. The change in the character of Al₃Zr dispersoids exerted slight influence on quench sensitivity.

The exposure of Al-5Cu alloy to an external stress with normal aging was carried out. The effects of external stress-aging on the morphology and precipitation behavior of θ'''''''' phase were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and first principle calculation. The size of the θ'''''''' phase precipitated plates in stress-aging (453 K, 6 h, 50 MPa) is 19.83 nm, which is smaller than that of those present (28.79 nm) in stress-free aging (453 K, 6 h). The precipitation process of θ'''''''' phase is accelerated by loading external stress aging according to the analysis of DSC results. The apparent activation energy for the external stress-aging is 10% lower than the stress-free one. The first principle calculation results show that the external stress makes a decrease of 6% in the interface energy. The effects of the stress on aging process of the alloy are discussed on the basis of the classical theory. The external stress changes the morphology and precipitation behavior of θ'''''''' phase because the critical nucleation energy is decreased by 19% under stress aging.

The effects of copper on the ageing precipitation behavior of as-quenched and pre-aged AA6016 aluminum alloy were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Vickers hardness measurement and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). The results indicate that the addition of copper facilitates the growth of clusters (GP I) to the critical size during pre-ageing. Therefore, the addition of copper accelerates the transition from GP I (pre-β′′) to GP II (β′′) during final artificial ageing, and finally results in the favorable paint-bake response. However, the one with the copper level of 0.3% does not show significant baking hardening response as expected. Pre-aging can also reduce the detrimental effect due to natural aging of copper-containing alloys.

The effects of T9I6 thermo-mechanical process on microstructures, mechanical properties and ballistic resistance of 2519A aluminum alloy were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tensile tests and ballistic resistance test. After T9I6 treatment, the yield strength, tensile strength and elongation rate of 2519A aluminum alloy reach 501 MPa, 540 MPa and 14%, respectively. And the ballistic limit velocity of 2519A-T9I6 alloy (30 mm in thickness) is 715 m/s. The microstructure varies near the sidewalls of crater. The interrupted ageing contributes to these excellent properties of the alloy. During T9I6 process, the precipitation of Guinier Preston (GP) zone is finer and denser during the interrupted ageing, thus resulting in well precipitated strengthening phase.

A binary Al-7Mg alloy was processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at room temperature via route Bc, combined with intermediate annealing. After 6 passes, a high hardness of 218 HV is achieved. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations demonstrate that ECAP leads to a significant grain refinement and ultrafine grains down to 100-200 nm are developed after 5 or 6 passes. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicates that the major part of Mg atoms are in solid solution in the deformed material, and the possible strengthening effect of Mg solute atom clusters or precipitates is neglected. The high hardness of the 6 pass-treated materials comes mainly from grain boundary strengthening, which contributes about 41% to the total strength, while dislocations and Mg solid solution contribute about 24% and 35% to the remaining strength, respectively. Also, the thermal stability of this severely deformed material was investigated by hardness measurements. The material is relatively stable when annealed at a temperature lower than 250 °C, while annealing at 300 °C leads to a rapid softening of the material.

Evolution of microstructure and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of 7050 aluminum alloy with 0.094%, 0.134% and 0.261% Si (mass fraction) in T7651 condition have been investigated. The results show that the area fraction of Mg₂Si increases from 0.16% to 1.48% and the size becomes coarser, while the area fraction of the other coarse phases including Al₂CuMg, Mg(Al,Cu,Zn)₂ and Al₇Cu₂Fe decreases from 2.42% to 0.78% with Si content increasing from 0.094% to 0.261%. The tensile strength and elongation of 7050-T7651 alloys is decreased with the increase of Si content by slow strain rate test (SSRT) in ambient air. However, electrical conductivity is improved and SCC susceptibility is reduced with the increase of Si content by SSRT in corrosion environment with 3.5% NaCl solution.

Aluminum foils having thicknesses of 10-20 μm are commonly employed as current collectors for cathode electrodes in Li-ion batteries. The effects of the surface morphology of the foil on battery performance were investigated by using a foil with roughened surface by chemical etching and a plain foil with smooth surface on both sides. For high-conductivity LiCoO₂ active materials with large particle size, there are no significant differences in battery performance between the two types of foils. But for low-conductivity LiFePO₄ active materials with small particle size, high-rate discharge properties are significantly different. The possibility shows that optimizing both the surface morphology of the aluminum foil and particle size of active material leads to improvement of the battery performance.

The influences of heat treatment on stress corrosion cracking (SCC), fracture toughness and strength of 7085 aluminum alloy were investigated by slow strain rate testing, Kahn tear testing combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the fracture toughness of T74 overaging is increased by 22.9% at the expense of 13.6% strength, and retrogression and reaging (RRA) enhances fracture toughness 14.2% without reducing the strength compared with T6 temper. The fracture toughness of dual-retrogression and reaging (DRRA) is equivalent to that of T74 with an increased strength of 14.6%. The SCC resistance increases in the order: T6<RRA<DRRA≈T74. The differences of fracture toughness and SCC were explained on the basis of the role of matrix precipitates and grain boundary precipitates.

The precipitation hardening behavior in dilute Al-Yb alloys upon annealing at different temperatures was investigated to shed light on the mechanism of micro-alloying element in aluminum alloys. When aging at different temperatures, the samples showed their corresponding peak hardness in the range of 400-416 MPa due to the precipitation of Al₃Yb with L12 crystal structure. The coarsening kinetics of the Al₃Yb precipitates obeyed the LSW theory, which indicated that the coarsening process was controlled by the diffusion of Yb. The coherence between Al₃Yb particles and matrix was maintained until the particle size reached 11 nm. When the particle size increased to about 2 nm, the shearing mechanism started to change to Orowan mechanism.