Retrogression and re-aging (RRA) treatment was introduced to increase the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance while retaining the strength attainable in T6 (peak aged) temper. Retrogression is a short-term heat treatment at an elevated temperature wherein a partial dissolution of metastable precipitates occurs, which are responsible for the hardening. During the next step, the material is re-aged in the regime of typical age hardening parameters to restore the strength with improved ductility. Response of RRA treatment has been reported on AA7XXX series Aluminum alloys such as AA7075, AA7050, AA7150, AA7049, and AA7010. Studies have been done on the effect of RRA on microstructure, mechanical properties such as tensile and hardness, corrosion, exfoliation corrosion, and SCC resistance by various researchers. The key characteristic of RRA is retrogression, which makes the re-precipitation in the matrix and coarsening of grain boundary precipitates such as MgZn2, η′. The retrogression treatment however requires high temperature and a short time, which limits the industrial application of RRA, especially in the heat treatment of the components with large cross section, due to the inherent thermal conductivity limitations. Hence, further work needs to be done in this area to apply this specialized heat treatment for industrial applications. This article brings out a comprehension of the changes in microstructure, tensile properties, and corrosion resistance of the various commonly used AA7XXX Aluminum alloys in structural applications with RRA heat treatment. The future scope of the work in RRA heat treatment is also discussed in this article.
Recent advances in the metallurgy of aluminum alloys. Part II: Age hardening
