Precipitation hardening in dilute Al–Zr alloys

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of solute content (hipoperitectic Al–0.22 wt.%Zr and hiperperitectic Al–0.32 wt.%Zr) on the precipitation hardening and microstructural evolution of dilute Al–Zr alloys isothermally aged. The materials were conventionally cast in a muffle furnace, solidified in a water-cooled Cu mold and subsequently heat-treated at the temperature of 650 K (377 °C) for 4, 12, 24, 100 and 400 h. Mechanical characterization was performed at room temperature, using a microhardness tester and microstructural characterization was carried out on a Transmission Electron Microscope – TEM. The observed microhardness values increased during isothermal aging, due to the precipitation of nanometer-scale Al 3 Zr L1 2 particles. Peak strength was achieved within 100 h of aging. After aging for 400 h, microhardness values presented a slight decrease for both alloys, thus indicating overaging due to the coalescence of precipitates. Microhardness values increased with solute content, due to the precipitation of a higher number density of finer precipitates. After 400 h of heat-treating, coalescence was higher for the alloy with lower solute content and, also, the presence of antiphase boundaries – APBs, planar faults associated with the L1 2 to D0 23 structural transition, were observed. Comparing theoretical calculations of the increment in strength due to precipitation strengthening with experimental results, it was observed that their values are in reasonable agreement. The Orowan dislocation looping mechanism takes place during precipitation hardening for both alloys in the peak hardness condition.