Post solutionising rolling sway on the precipitation behaviour of eutectoid steel powder reinforced al7075 ternary alloy composites

The solitary distinguished thermal treatment to aluminium alloy matrix of nonferrous group with uniformly dispersed reinforcement particles is precipitation or age hardening with or without mechanical working. Al7075 ternary alloy composites belongs to Al-Zn-Mg group and bulk properties can be enhanced by the formation of the immensely small consistently spread out precipitates of solute rich second phase within the matrix phase. The treatment comprises solutionising (550^oC) supported by controlled aging (100 and 180^o C) below the solvus temperature of the given alloy. Aging expedites the diffusion of solute atoms to form secondary particles (intermetallics) from the room temperature super saturated solid solution. This process is supported by deformation known as rolling as post activity, develops strain hardening in matrix and reinforcement. The present work shows the distinction in the aging phenomenon on alloy and alloy matrix composites (reinforced with 3 and 6 wt% of eutectoid steel powder, 10-30 micron size) upon undergoing cold rolling prior to aging i.e., after solution treatment. The variation in the hardness distribution with aging kinetics for both aging temperatures with and without cold deformation (10 and 20%) in between the consecutive stages like, solution treatment and aging were investigated and peak hardness values were noted in each aging temperatures and results were analysed. In every hardness test 10 trials were performed and the average of 6 consistent readings are taken as the outcome. 20 to 40% improvement in peak hardness is observed with intentional deformation over without deformation. The composite may be used for light duty cold working dies where bulk hardness and frictional characteristics are very important.