Fatigue Crack Growth and Precipitation Characteristics of a High Zn-Containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy with Various Typical Aging States

The fatigue crack growth of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy can be adjusted by different aging treatments. In the present work, a high Zn-containing Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was treated by single, double and triple stage aging treatments and typical T6, T79 and T77 states were selected by tensile properties. Fatigue crack growth under these aging states was tested and related fracture morphology and precipitation characteristics were observed. The results showed that fatigue crack growth resistance for the alloy was T6<T79<T77. The corresponding fracture morphology also showed the difference of fatigue striations and the measurement of them provided an additional evidence. The precipitation proved that the alloy with T6 state possessed GPI zone, GPII zone and η' phase while that for T76 state was GPII zone, η' phase and η phase. As for the T77 state, the precipitate types were GPII zone and η' phase. The matrix precipitate for T6 state was smaller and denser than that for T79 and T77 states while that for T77 state possessed a dense distribution than that for T79 state. The measurement of precipitate size distribution also proved it. The grain boundary precipitates for T79 and T77 states were similar, which had a more intermittent distribution than that for T6 state.