LABORATORY 10:

Al, Mg and Ti Alloys

METE 307
METALLOGRAPHY LABORATORY

Laboratory Assistants:
Merve Özdil
Oğuz Gözcü
Serkan Koylan
Çağla Özgür
Atalay Balta
Alper Haliloğlu
Al ALLOYS
• Aluminium and its alloys are lightweight (compared to steel and most metals), possess superior
conductivity, and resistant to corrosion
• They are highly ductile, can be formed into plates, cans, thin foils, etc.
• They retain their ductility even at low temperatures since they have FCC crystal structures
• Main limitation of the utilization of Al-alloys is temperature because Al has a relatively low melting
point (~660 ° C)
• Aluminium and its alloys can be strengthened either by alloying or by cold working but both processes
reduce the resistance to corrosion
• Main alloying elements: Cu, Mg, Si, Mn, Zn
• Alloys can be divided into heat-treatable and non-heat-treatable, where heat-treatable usually refers
to precipitation hardening (age hardening)
• Non-heat-treatable alloys are composed of a single-phase and the main strengthening mechanism is
solid-solution strengthening
• Heat-treatable alloys are strengthened by precipitating a second phase, either a solid solution or an
intermetallic, inside the microstructure
• Aluminium alloys are generally categorized as cast or wrought
• For wrought alloys, the alloy designation is done by four digits, which indicates the impurities inside
the structure and if the alloy was subjected to heat treatment, a temper designation follows these four
digits, e.g., AA 6061-T6
• For cast alloys, a decimal point is located between the las two digits, e.g., AA 705.0
• Application areas of Aluminium alloys include but not limited to beverage cans, food containers,
automobile parts such as engine blocks, pistons, manifolds, chassis, aircraft structural parts such as wing
skins, fuselage, stringers, ribs, spars, bicycle frames, boat building, ship building, etc.
• Due to recent requirements for reduction in fuel consumption, aluminum alloys with other lightweight
metals (Mg, Ti, Li) have garnered attention
• The specific strength (tensile strength-to-specific gravity ratio) of these new alloys has brought them into
spotlight
• Aluminium-Lithium alloys is the recent generation of alloys which is popular now, they are being developed
for aircraft and aerospace applications
• They have relatively low density, high specific modulus, superior fatigue and low-temperature toughness
properties
• Their downside is the processing: since lithium is highly reactive, extra precautions are necessary during
production, which in turn increases the manufacturing expenses
• They also suffer from poor weldability
Precipitation Hardening

• Precipitation hardening refers to the strengthening of certain materials by forming extremely fine, uniformly
dispersed particles know as precipitates by applying appropriate heat treatments
• There are two prerequisites that must be met in order to apply this procedure:
• A significant maximum solubility of one component in the other
• A rapidly decreasing solubility limit of the major component with a reduction in temperature

Alloys below 5.65 wt% Cu

can be age hardened
Solution Treatment:
❑At room temperature, an Al-4.5%Cu alloy consists of two phases: α and
CuAl2. CuAl2 is also named as θ phase.
❑In the age-hardening procedure, the alloy is first heated to α single-
phase region. All the CuAl2 particles dissolve in the matrix. This yields
atomic Cu and enriches the matrix in terms of Cu. This step is called
solution treatment.
❑When water is quenched, the matrix is frozen and it becomes
supersaturated with respect to Cu. θ’.
θ’’.
Age Hardening (Artificial Ageing)
❑When the quenched alloy is heated to a higher temperature; but within GP ZONE
the α+ θ two-phase region, the Cu atoms precipitate in the form of very
fine particles (θ’ and θ’’).
❑These fine particles act as an obstacle to dislocation motion and the
strength of the alloy increase. This process is called age hardening.

The aging behavior of most alloys shows an

optimum point where maximum strength or
hardness is reached after a certain amount
of time. Beyond this point, the mechanical
properties start to decrease, this is known
as overaging.
The Al Alloy 6082. Undissolved Mg2Si particles can be The Al alloy 6082. Forged.
seen.

Al Mg% Mn% Si% Fe%

bal 0.6-1.2 0.4-1.0 0.7-1.3 0.0-0.5
 α= α grains
P P= Undissolved Mg2Si precipitates
As wee see, in aluminum deformed
grains can be seen even after
recrystallization. Also, several Mg2Si
particles could not be dissolved in
matrix
α

Al 6082 alloy, etched, x560

 Mg ALLOYS
Advantages Disadvantages
Low density (1.74g/cm3) Low toughness
High specific strength Low ductility (HCP crystal structure)
Good Stiffness Limited creep resistance
High machinability High chemical reactivity
Good vibration absorption Easily flammable in pure form
Low toxicity in humans

Alloys
AZ series (Mg-Al-Zn)
AM series (Mg-Al-Mn)
AZ31 AZ91 AE series (Mg-Al-RE)
3% Al 9% Al EZ series (Mg-RE-Zn)
1% Zn 1% Zn ZK series (Mg-Zn-Zr)

Alloy development
 INTRODUCTION - Applications

Engine Components Wheel Rims

Mobile Device Casings Annual magnesium metal production

AZ31 Alloy
Even the alloy composition is in two phase
region, NO (OR SMALL AMOUNT) PPT DUE TO
LOW DRIVING FORCE

Mg17Al12
AZ31 Alloy – Deformation and Annealing

DEFORMED RECRYSTALLIZED
Deformation
twins
AZ91 Alloy – Precipitation Hardening
Two types of precipitation
Continuous precipitates
Discontinuous Precipitates
No GP zone formation
Low nucleation rate due to low DAlMg
a)

Mg17Al12

•• CP

CP + DP b)

•
• DP

Mg17Al12 precipitates in AZ91, a) continuous

precipitates, 350°C, 8hr, b) discontinuous precipitates,
Fig. 3. Mg-Al phase diagram 150°C, 16hr
 a) b)

As Cast Heat-Treated (Solutionizing +

Precipitation)

Continuous Precipitates Discontinuous Precipitates

S.B.= ShearBand α= α matrix (dendritic)
D.T.= DeformationTwins (not easy to see) β= β precipitates at interdendritic region.
INMT = Intermetalic phase D.P.= Discontinuous(lamellar)
prepititates(composedof α + β)
 Ti ALLOYS
• The low density, high strength, high corrosion resistance and biocompatibility are attractive characteristic
of Ti and Ti alloys ( for structural applications in both airframes, propulsion systems and biomedical use)

• The principal barrier to the widespread use of Ti alloys is their high cost, which results from the need to
process the melt in batches in vacuum to produce the primary metal and the difficulty of subsequent
fabrication into mill products and structural components.

Ti has the following basic characteristics:

• At room temperature, unalloyed (commercially pure) titanium has a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystal
structure referred to as alpha (α) phase.
• At 883 °C, α phase transforms to a body-centered cubic (bcc) structure known as beta (β) phase. This phase
boundary is named as β-Transus.
• The alloys which do not contain β stabilizers, the microstructure will be α phase. For the alloys with β
stabilizers, the microstructure will be a mixture of α+ β.
• These characteristics are also used in the classification of the alloys:
α alloys
β alloys
α+ β alloys.
 For titanium alloys this temperature is strongly influenced by the content of alloying elements.
Ti alloys can be processed either in the high temperature single phase β or the two phase α+βregions and
then cooled at different rates thereby providing the ability through controlled alloying and processing to
achieve varying volume fractions, sizes, and morphologies of these two phases.

Alpha alloys
Contain elements such as aluminum and tin. Elements that dissolve preferentially in the α phase expand the α
phase field thereby raising the α/β-transus.As a result the αphase is stabilized
❑Also, oxygen raise the α-to-β transformation temperature(α/β-transus).
❑Alpha alloys generally have creep resistance superior to β alloys, and are preferred for high-temperature
applications.
❑Unlike β alloys, alpha alloys can not be strengthened by heat treatment.

Alpha + Beta
These alloys have compositions that enable to form a mixture of α and β phases. They may contain between
10% and 50%β phase at room temperature.
❑The β transus in these alloys are important, because processing and heat treatment are often carried out with
reference to some incremental temperature above or below the β transus.
❑The most common α + β alloy is Ti-6Al-4V.
❑The precise temperature β transus of a given alloy is generally given with the certificate. Or DTA analysis is
necessary to define this temperature
Alloying Strategies Alloy Classification
Commercially pure (CP) titanium alpha near α-Ti
-Generally non-heat treatable and weldable
-Medium strength, good creep strength, good corrosion resistance
2. α+β titanium alloys
-Heat treatable, good forming properties
-Medium to high strength, good creep strength
3. β titanium alloys- Metastable β titanium alloys
-Heat treatable and readily formable
-very high strength, low ductility
Alloy Design Processing of Titanium Alloys

The properties of titanium alloys are basically determined by Which comprises basically four thermal and thermomechanical
their chemical composition and microstructure. There exist two treatments, namely homogenization, deformation,
ways to improve the properties of titanium alloys: alloying and recrystallization and aging
processing
Microstructure

α grain
boundary

α
colony

Effect of cooling rate on fully

lamellar microstructures in
Ti-6Al-4V after beta
annealing from 1033°C

1°C/min 100°C/min 10000°C/min

Primary
α +β
α grains
Lamellar
matrix

β phase
Coarse α
grains
 β phase

Fine α
grains

Fully
Martensite
Ti-6Al-4V (α+βalloy)
1.Solution treatment at 955C-970C (1hr)

2.Water quench

3.Age at 480C-595C 4hr-8hr)

❑Precipitates α, resulting in a fine mixture

of α and β in a matrix.

A mill annealed Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy. Mill annealing is a general-purpose treatment given to all mill
products. It is not a full anneal and may leave traces of cold or warm working in the microstructures of
heavily worked products