Materials and Design 32 (2011) 1594–1599

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Materials and Design

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Short Communication

Mechanical and anisotropic behaviors of 7075 aluminum alloy sheets

Mohammad Tajally ⇑, Esmaeil Emadoddin
Dept. of Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Formability of 7075 aluminum alloy sheets was studied after annealing of 71% cold worked (CW) samples
Received 9 June 2010 at different temperatures (270–450 °C). Uniaxial tensile test, deep drawing and Erichsen test were carried
Accepted 1 September 2010 out at room temperature to evaluate formability parameters.
Available online 6 September 2010
Average plastic strain ratio, planar anisotropy, and work hardening exponent of samples were calcu-
lated from the tensile test data. The tensile properties and formability parameters were correlated with
the limit drawing ratio (LDR) and Erichsen test. It was found that the sheets annealed at 400 °C possess
good ductility, high average n-value and the normal anisotropy r-value so that, the formability of 7075
aluminum alloy can be improved by increasing annealing temperatures to the 350–400 °C.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction is also dependent on the material properties such as strain harden-

The 7xxx series aluminum alloys have been widely used as
structural materials due to their attractive comprehensive proper-
ties, such as low density, high strength, ductility, toughness and
resistance to fatigue [1–3]. The 7075 aluminum alloy is one of
the most important engineering alloys. It has been utilized exten-
sively in aircraft construction due to its high strength-to-density
ratio [4].
High strength alloys are desirable to reduce the weight and cost
for constructional applications. In addition, good ductility is also
required for formability. However, the enhancement of the
strength of a material while maintaining reasonable ductility is a
permanent challenge [5]. By recrystallization, there is a gradual de-
crease in the tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS) and hard-
ness. It also increases the elongation of the rolled material by
increasing annealing temperature. The formability of sheet metal
is an important parameter of the manufacturing process design.
Thin sheet products are obtained by cold rolling and subsequent
annealing treatment that affects forming behavior. Metals, that
have undergone extensive plastic deformation by rolling or extru-
sion, exhibit a significant anisotropy of mechanical properties.
Even in the case of untextured metals showing isotropic or almost
isotropic yielding behavior, the ductility can be very anisotropic
[6]. Recently, research on aluminum alloy are focused on mechan-
ical properties, texture and anisotropic behavior that give rise from
processing of aluminum alloy sheet especially cold rolling and
annealing [5,7–10]. It was found that the formability of 5052 alu-
minum alloy annealed at 350 °C possessed good formability, opti-
mal texture and high normal anisotropy value [9]. The formability
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: m_tajally@sun.semnan.ac.ir (M. Tajally).
ing exponent (n), strain rate sensitivity (m), and grain size [11–14].
The 7075 aluminum alloy plate, in O temper condition, have
practical and industrial application due to their higher formability
in comparison to the other temper conditions. There has been little
research on formability and anisotropic behavior of 7075 alumi-
num alloy. At present study, in order to examine the possibility
of the practical use of 7075 aluminum alloy, the mechanical prop-
erties, anisotropic behavior and formability of 7075 aluminum
alloy thin sheet at various annealing temperatures were
investigated.
2. Materials and experimental procedures
2.1. Research material
A7075 O-temper aluminum alloy plate was supplied in 7.2 mm
thickness for research. The chemical composition of 7075 alumi-
num alloy is given in Table 1. For deep drawing test, thickness of
plate was reduced to 3.9 mm by remove material. The 7075 alumi-
num alloy plate, in O temper condition, was selected as the starting
material (SM) in this investigation.
2.2. Cold rolling and annealing
Cold rolling of the 7075 Al alloy was carried out by rolling plates
with various thicknesses according to mechanical testing: (a)
thickness of 7.2 mm to 2.1 mm equal to 71% CW for tensile proper-
ties; (b) thickness of 3.9 mm to 1.1 mm equal to 71% CW for deep
drawing and Erichsen tests. The cold-rolled samples were annealed
at various temperatures in the range of 270–450 °C for 5 min. A
programmable Nabertherm furnace was used for annealing; and

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2010.09.001
 M. Tajally, E. Emadoddin / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 1594–1599
Table 1
Chemical composition (% wt) of the investigated alloy.
Zn Mg Cu Mn Fe Si Cr Ti
5.8 2.5 1.6 0.28 0.40 0.35 0.21 0.19
the hot-annealed samples were air-cooled to room temperature by
natural convection because of very thin thickness of the samples.
2.3. Metallographic practice
Metallographic samples were cut from the plates in rolling
direction, ground and polished by 0.25 micron Alumina. The pol-
ished metallographic specimens were anodized by using Barker’s
reagent (5 ml HBF4 (48%) in 200 ml water) at 30 V direct current
(DC) for 2.5 min by using stainless steel cathode according to ASTM
E407 for grain structure observation under polarized light.
2.4. Mechanical properties
According to standard test procedure E517-92a [15], in order to
measure r-value of samples uniaxial tension tests were carried out
on samples which have been cut in the directions of 0°, 45° and 90°
in respect to the rolling direction. The gauge length and width of
the tensile specimens were 50 and 12.5 mm, respectively. The ten-
sile tests were performed at room temperature using INSTRON
4469 universal testing machine equipped by extensometer with
a gauge length of 50 mm. Three specimens for each condition were
used at a constant crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. The parameters
that affect the formability of the sheet metals such as strain hard-
ening exponent (n) and the plastic strain ratio (r-value), which is
the ratio of the width strain to the thickness strain, (r = ew/et) along
rolling directions (0°), transverse direction (90°) and (45°) with re-
spect to rolling direction were determined.
Grid circles with diameter d0 = 8.0 mm were etched on the ten-
sile samples and used to measure strain in each test. During form-
ing of samples the etched circles were distorted into ellipses and/or
larger circles, and these deformed grid circles were then used to
measure strain levels in each case.
Three measurements (circles) were made for each specimen
and the mean of the data for r-value tests were obtained.
The normal anisotropy or mean plastic strain ratio ðr Þ and the
planer anisotropy (Dr) were calculated from the r values that were
determined along three directions by using the following formulas
[7].
Fig. 1. Microstructure of 7075-O Al alloy for (a) starting material; (b) after 71% CW.
1595
r ¼ ðr 0 þ r 90 þ 2r 45 Þ=4 ð1Þ
Al Dr ¼ ðr 0 þ r 90  2r 45 Þ=2 ð2Þ
Balance
2.5. Formability testing
2.5.1. Deep drawing
The formability may be expressed as a limiting drawing ratio
(LDR) in deep drawing experiment. LDR is defined as the ratio of
the largest diameter of the blank that can be drawn without failure
to the smallest diameter of the cup or punch. The 7075-O alumi-
num alloy with a sheet thickness of 1.1 mm that was employed
in deep drawing processes have been used in this study for deter-
mining LDR. The data of deep drawing process were compared
with experimental and numerical values.
2.5.2. The Erichsen test
In the Erichsen test, a hemispherical punch was pressed into the
sheet until fracture occurred. Then at this point the test was
stopped immediately and the height of the bulge was measured
[16].
In several cases the maximal values of the force corresponding
to the necking of the sheet was recorded specimens with thickness
equal to 1.1 mm and 70 mm wide were conducted in accordance
with ISO 1520, BS 3900: Part E4 and DIN ISO 1520.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of cold rolling and recrystallization on microstructure
The microstructures of starting material and cold-rolled sam-
ples, for the 7075-O aluminum alloy are shown in Fig. 1. It can
be observed that after cold rolling, the aspect ratio of the alumi-
num grains for 71% CW increases from 5 to 35 which is consistent
with the macroscopic level of cold reduction.
3.2. Mechanical properties
The values of the tensile properties at annealing temperatures
270 °C, 350 °C, 400 °C and 450 °C for three directions (0°, 45° and
90° to rolling direction) are given in Fig. 2 for 7075 aluminum alloy.
The yield stress and ultimate tensile strength were anisotrop and
vary with respect to the rolling direction.
The average values of the strengths, elongation, and work hard-
ening exponent were evaluated as:
1596 M. Tajally, E. Emadoddin / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 1594–1599
Fig. 2. Variation of tensile properties of AA7075 aluminum alloy with rolling
direction. Ultimate tensile strength (a); 0.2% proof stress (b); elongation.
X mean ¼ ðX 0 þ 2X 45 þ X 90 Þ=4 ð3Þ
where X is yield strength or ultimate tensile strength, or elongation,
or working hardening exponent [7].
By annealing, there was a gradual decrease in the tensile
strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS), continuation increase in
elongation, average plastic strain ratio or normal anisotropy r
and average strain hardening exponent n  value of the rolled mate-
rial by increase in annealing temperatures. The sheets annealed at
range of 350–400 °C in this study proved a lower value of ultimate
tensile strength and yield stress compared to sheets annealed at
other annealing temperatures.
Maximum strengths were observed in the 90° direction at room
temperature, as shown in Fig. 2. The elongation in the 45° direction
was greater than those in the other directions. The elongation en-
hances by increasing annealing temperatures with a constant
slope.
Also, the result indicated that sheets annealed at all of anneal-
ing temperatures exhibited the maximum strain hardening expo-
nent (n) along 45° to the rolling direction and minimum value
along 0° to the rolling direction.
Cold-rolled samples and samples annealed at 270 °C showed
lower elongation in transverse direction, whilst for samples an-
nealed at high temperatures the elongation value was high in
transverse direction. This can be explained in terms of the micro-
structure and mechanical properties. In the cold rolled sheet, the
longer grains restrict the plastic deformation along the transverse
direction, as indicated by the lower elongation. However, cold roll-
ing and subsequent annealing refine the grain size, especially the
grain length, resulting in a greater ductility in the transverse direc-
tion; consequently, the formability along this direction was also
improved.
The (UTS/ry) value which is the ratio of the ultimate tensile
strength to 0.2% proof stress increased from 1.11 for 71% CW sam-
ple to 1.21, 1.23.1.32 and 2.15 by increasing annealing tempera-
tures. The sheets annealed at 400–450 °C had higher (UTS/ry),
which in turn increased the formability. These results were also
consistent with mechanical properties and microstructures.
3.3. Formability parameters
3.3.1. Tensile test
The formability parameters were determined from tensile test
experiment as shown in Fig. 3 and Table 2. The value of normal
anisotropy r or (Lankford value) was high for the sheet annealed
at 400 °C (Fig. 3a) due to fully recrystallized structure (Fig. 4). This
indicates that this sheet possess higher drawability than the sheets
annealed at other temperatures. The planar anisotropy (Dr) was
moderate for all sheets and the tendency to earing during drawing
operations was normal for all annealed sheets (Fig. 3b). This value
of Dr is more than Dr value of 0.14 which has been reported for
aluminum alloy 5052 [17].
Earing is an undesirable phenomenon in metal forming. The
average n-value and nr value also, were high for the sheet annealed
at 400 °C (Fig. 3c). These values indicated that the stretchability of
this sheet was also good. These values were in good agreement
with the evaluated LDR.
To achieve an acceptable average of plastic strain ratio or nor-
mal anisotropy r, it was necessary to anneal the samples at tem-
peratures more than 350 °C.
A comparatively low average n-value of approximately 0.14 re-
vealed that samples annealed at 350 °C did not exhibit good ability
to resist plastic instability during tension. Also, the n-value of these
samples was not large enough to give best stretchability. Therefore,
the samples annealed at 400 °C presented better formability than
that of the samples annealed in 350 °C alloy.
Although samples annealed at 450 °C exhibited excellent ductil-
ity at room temperature, the drawability of samples annealed at
450 °C was not much superior to the samples annealed at 400 °C
due to its rather small r-value. The r-value of the samples annealed
at 450 °C was smaller than that of the samples annealed at 400 °C
which can relate to the grain orientation at this condition. How-
ever, the higher elongation resulted in comparatively good draw-
ability. Since, the microstructure of the sheets annealed at 400 °C
proved a refined and recrystallized grains and better formability
in all regions.
Thus, the sheets annealed at range of 350–400 °C possessed
more stretchability and drawability than the sheets annealed at
270 °C due to the presence of rolled microstructure. The sheet an-
nealed at 270 °C showed poor formability due to the presence of
cold rolled grains microstructure.
3.3.2. Deep drawing
Majority of the surveys have concentrated on the limit drawing
ratio (LDR) in plastic deformation or problems occurring during the
deep drawing process such as folding, wrinkling and tearing. Figs. 5
and 6 clearly indicated that samples annealed at 400 °C have a
 M. Tajally, E. Emadoddin / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 1594–1599 1597

Fig. 4. Microstructure of 7075-O Al alloy after71% CW and annealed at 400 °C.

Fig. 3. Effect of annealing temperatures on formability parameters of 7075

aluminum alloys. Normal anisotropy (a); planar anisotropy (b); strain hardening
exponent (c).

Table 2
Formability parameters of 7075 aluminum alloy.

Annealing Orientation r n nr Dr
temperature respect to RD
270 °C 0 0.49 0.093 0.04557 0.285
45 0.79 0.13 0.1027
90 0.52 0.109 0.05668
Average 0.64 0.102 0.065
350 °C 0 0.62 0.114 0.07068 0.26 Fig. 5. Cups formed with different annealing temperatures: 270 °C (a); 350 °C (b);
45 0.92 0.164 0.15088 400 °C (c) and 450 °C (d).
90 0.70 0.12 0.084
Average 0.79 0.1405 0.11411
400 °C 0 0.77 0.2155 0.165935 0.24 better deep drawing ability than 350 °C and 450 °C annealed sam-
45 1.02 0.257 0.26214 ples. At low temperature ranges (270–350 °C), deep drawability is
90 0.79 0.23 0.1817 poor due to non-fully recrystallized structure. Grains which con-
Average 0.9 0.239875 0.2179 tain dislocations from deformed state cannot further deform in
450 °C 0 0.66 0.2382 0.1572 0.25 deep drawing process and lead to early failure. On the other hand,
45 0.94 0.2381 0.2238 at high annealing temperature grain growth cause non uniform
90 0.72 0.24 0.1728
Average 0.815 0.2386 0.1944
deformation of sheet and reduce formability. At optimum temper-
ature (about 400 °C) fully fine recrystallized microstructure
1598 M. Tajally, E. Emadoddin / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 1594–1599
Fig. 6. Effect of annealing temperatures on limit drawing ratio (LDR value).
Fig. 7. Effect of annealing temperatures on height of drawn sheet (Erichsen test).
achieve best drawability parameters. It can be due to this fact that
recrystallization is the formation of a new set of fine, strain free
and equaxed grains. Aluminum alloys with a fine and recrystallized
microstructure deform by grain boundary sliding at low strain
rates that lead to an enhanced formability [18,19].
The LDR value was computed by using the ratio of D0/D1, where
D0 is the initial diameter of blank which can be drawn without cup
rupture of diameter of D1 (punch diameter). The LDR values were
measured equal to 1.8, 2 and 2 for annealing temperatures
350 °C, 400 °C and 450 °C, respectively. Also, for annealing temper-
ature 270 °C, the samples with the initial diameter of circle (D0)
equal to 57 mm and 60 mm failed that indicated poor deep draw-
ability. The samples annealed in 400 °C showed a larger LDR value
of 2.0 and a higher r-value of 0.9 at room temperature that indi-
cated the best drawability among other annealing temperatures.
This value of LDR can be comparison with LDR value of 2.03 which
has been reported for aluminum alloy 1050 [20].
3.3.3. The Erichsen cupping test
The graph of the Erichsen test results are shown in Fig. 6. The
height of drawn sheet for samples annealed at 270 °C, 350 °C,
400 °C and 450 °C was equal to 4.4 mm, 7.0 mm, 7.95 mm and
7.2 mm, respectively (Fig. 7). The results showed that the sheets
annealed at 400 °C have more formability. The sheet annealed
at 400 °C with fine recrystallized grain possessed more stretch-
ability than the sheets annealed at 270 °C which specified by cold
rolled microstructure. At high annealing temperature by coarsen-
ing of the grain size, the formability of material decreases [21].
Refinement of grain size significantly improves the formability
primarily through increasing strain rate sensitivity of flow stress
[22].
4. Conclusion
The formability of 7075 aluminum alloy sheets via the limit
drawing ratio (LDR), Erichsen and tensile test after annealing at dif-
ferent temperatures was conducted.
1. The maximum strengths were observed in the 90° direction at
room temperature, and the elongation in the 45° direction
was greater than those in the other directions.
2. It is clear that sheets annealed at higher than 350 °C possess rel-
atively good stretchability and drawability. As a result, the
formability parameters improve by increasing annealing tem-
perature and hence formability of 7075 Al alloy could be
improved by annealing the sheets at temperatures ranges of
350–400 °C.
3. From the tensile test, it was observed that the sheets annealed
at 400 °C/5 min possess good ductility, the normal anisotropy r-
value, high average n-value. Also, the samples annealed at
400 °C proved a larger LDR value of 2.0 and a higher height of
drawn sheet equal to 7.95 mm at room temperature that indi-
cated the best formability as compared to sheets were annealed
in other temperatures.
4. The results of tensile behavior, the limit drawing ratio (LDR)
and Erichsen test were in agreement with together.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the Department of Material Engi-
neering of Semnan University for proving laboratory facilities for
the research.
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