Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7883591?dq=6377161
Timestamp: 2014-03-16 19:30:58
Document Index: 84055747

Matched Legal Cases: ['application no. 04077721', 'Application No. 2002', 'Application No. 2002', 'Application No. 2003', 'Application No. 2005', 'Application No. 2007']

Patent US7883591 - High-strength, high toughness Al-Zn alloy product and method for producing ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsDisclosed is a Al�Zn alloy wrought product, and a method of manufacturing such a product, with an improved combination of high toughness and high strength by maintaining good corrosion resistance, the alloy including (in weight percent): Zn 6.0-11.0, Cu 1.4-2.2, Mg 1.4-2.4, Zr 0.05-0.15, Ti <0.05,...http://www.google.com/patents/US7883591?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7883591 - High-strength, high toughness Al-Zn alloy product and method for producing such productAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7883591 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/239,651Publication dateFeb 8, 2011Filing dateSep 30, 2005Priority dateOct 5, 2004Also published asUS20060174980Publication number11239651, 239651, US 7883591 B2, US 7883591B2, US-B2-7883591, US7883591 B2, US7883591B2InventorsRinze Benedictus, Christian Joachim Keidel, Alfred Ludwig HeinzOriginal AssigneeAleris Aluminum Koblenz GmbhExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (102), Non-Patent Citations (39), Classifications (4), Legal Events (3) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetHigh-strength, high toughness Al-Zn alloy product and method for producing such productUS 7883591 B2Abstract Disclosed is a Al�Zn alloy wrought product, and a method of manufacturing such a product, with an improved combination of high toughness and high strength by maintaining good corrosion resistance, the alloy including (in weight percent): Zn 6.0-11.0, Cu 1.4-2.2, Mg 1.4-2.4, Zr 0.05-0.15, Ti <0.05, Hf and/or V <0.25, and optionally Sc and/or Ce 0.05-0.25, and Mn 0.05-0.12, other elements each less than 0.05 and less than 0.50 in total, balance aluminium, wherein such alloy has an essentially fully unrecrystallized microstructure at least at the position T/10 of the finished product.
1. Method for producing a high strength, high toughness Al�Zn alloy product with good corrosion resistance, consisting of the sequential steps of:
d) reheating the pre-worked product, and then in a second hot rolling step hot rolling the reheated product to a thickness in a range selected from the group consisting of about 150 to 250 (in final-gauge %) or about 105 to 140 (in final-gauge %) at low temperatures in the range of 300� C. to 420� C. to prevent the alloy product from recrystallising and then, after the second hot rolling step, cold rolling the reheated product to a final gauge, wherein the final gauge has a thickness of from 4 to 60 mm,
g) artificially ageing the reheated, hot- and cold-rolled, solution heat-treated, quenched and optionally stretched or compressed alloy product by a two-step ageing treatment to produce the alloy product to have a T79 or T76 temper, wherein the first ageing step is at a temperature in a range of 105 to 135� C. for 2 to 20 hours and the second ageing step is at a temperature higher than 135� C. but less than 210� C. for 4 to 12 hours to a temper selected from T79 and T76 temper, and wherein more than 80% of the gauge of the artificially aged alloy product has a substantially unrecrystallised microstructure.
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the artificial ageing during step g) consists of a first ageing step at a temperature around 120� C. for 2 to 20 hours and a second ageing step at a temperature higher than 135� C. but less than 210� C. for 4 to 12 hours to a temper selected from T79 and T76 temper.
3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the artificial ageing during step g) consists of a first ageing step at a temperature around 120� C. for 2 to 20 hours and a second ageing step at a temperature around 155� C. to 160� C. for 4 to 12 hours to a temper selected from T79 and T76 temper.
18. Method according to claim 1, wherein the Al�Zn product is a thin plate having a gauge in a range of 20 to 60 mm.
19. Method according to claim 1, wherein the Al�Zn product is a thin plate having a gauge in the range of 30 to 50 mm.
20. Method according to claim 1, wherein the Al�Zn product is a thin aircraft member and wherein the reheated product is hot-rolled and then the hot-rolled product is cold rolled 10 to 20% to the final gauge.
21. Method according to claim 1, wherein the Al�Zn product is an upper-wing member of an aircraft.
22. Method according to claim 1, wherein the Al�Zn product is a thin skin member of an upper-wing or of a stringer of an aircraft.
23. Method according to claim 1, wherein Al�Zn product is stringer of an aircraft.
wherein the reheated product is hot rolled and then the hot rolled product is cold rolled 10 to 20% to the final gauge and the quenched alloy product is stretched 1.5 to 2.0% after quenching, wherein the final gauge is in the range of 4 to 50 mm, wherein the amount of Cu is in a range of 1.7 to 2.2 wt. %, the amount of Mg is in a range of 1.7 to 2.2 wt. %, the amount of Zn is in a range of 8.0 to 8.7 wt. %, wherein the artificial ageing during step g) consists of a first ageing step at a temperature around 155� C. to 160� C. for 4 to 12 hours to a temper selected from T79 and T76 temper.
32. Method according to claim 31, wherein the ingot includes, in weight percent, 0.06 to 0.25% Sc. Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/616,227 filed Oct. 7, 2004 and European patent application no. 04077721.1 filed Oct. 5, 2004, both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a high-strength high-toughness Al�Zn alloy wrought product with elevated amounts of Zn for maintaining good corrosion resistance, and to a method for producing such a high-strength high-toughness Al�Zn alloy product and to a plate product of such alloy. More specifically, the present invention relates to a high strength, high toughness Al�Zn alloy designated by the AA7000-series of the international nomenclature of the Aluminum Association for structural aeronautical applications. Even more specifically, the present invention relates to a new chemistry window for an Al�Zn alloy having improved combinations of strength and toughness by maintaining good corrosion resistance, which does not need specific ageing or temper treatments.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is known in the art to use heat treatable aluminium alloys in a number of applications involving relatively high strength, high toughness and corrosion resistance such as aircraft fuselages, vehicular members and other applications. Aluminium alloys AA7050 and AA7150 exhibit high strength in T6-type tempers. Also precipitation-hardened AA7�75, AA7�55 alloy products exhibit high strength values in the T6 temper. The T6 temper is known to enhance the strength of the alloy, wherein the aforementioned AA7�50, AA7�75 and AA7�55 alloy products which contain high amounts of zinc, copper and magnesium are known for their high strength-to-weight ratios and, therefore, find application in particular in the aerospace industry. However, these applications result in exposure to a wide variety of climatic conditions necessitating careful control of working and ageing conditions to provide adequate strength and resistance to corrosion, including both stress corrosion and exfoliation.
In order to enhance resistance against stress corrosion and exfoliation as well as fracture toughness it is known to artificially over-age these AA7000-series alloys. When artificially aged to a T79, T76, T74 or T73-type temper their resistance to stress corrosion, exfoliation corrosion and fracture toughness improve in the order stated (T73 being best and T79 being close to T6) but at the cost of strength compared to the T6 temper condition. A more acceptable temper condition is the T74-type temper which is a limited over-aged condition, between T73 and T76, in order to obtain an acceptable level of tensile strength, stress corrosion resistance, exfoliation corrosion resistance and fracture toughness. Such T74 temper is performed by over-ageing the aluminium alloy product at temperatures of 121� C. for 6 to 24 hours and followed by 171� C. for about 14 hours.
For example each of EP-0377779, U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,377 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,426 disclose alloy products and an improved process for producing an 7055 alloy for sheet or thin plate applications in the field of aerospace such as upper-wing members with high toughness and good corrosion properties which comprises the steps of working a body having a composition consisting of, about in wt.%: Zn 7.6 to 8.4, Cu 2.2 to 2.6, Mg 1.8 to 2.1 or 2.2, and one or more elements selected from Zr, Mn V and Hf, the total of the elements not exceeding 0.6 wt. %, the balance aluminium plus incidental impurities, solution heat treating and quenching the product and artificially ageing the product by either heating the product three times in a row to one or more temperatures from 79� C. to 163� C. or heating such product first to one or more temperatures from 79� C. to 141� C. for two hours or more and heating the product to one or more temperatures from 148� C. to 174� C. These products are reported to have an improved exfoliation corrosion resistance of �EB� or better with about 15% greater yield strength than similar sized 7�50 counter-parts in the T76-temper condition. They still have at least about 5% higher strength than their similar-sized 7�50-T77 counterpart (7150-T77 will be used herein below as a reference alloy).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide an improved Al�Zn alloy preferably for plate products with high (compressive) strength and high toughness. Corrosion resistance should not deteriorate.
The present invention relates to a Al�Zn alloy wrought product, and a to method of manufacturing such a product, with an improved combination of high toughness and high strength by maintaining good corrosion resistance, the alloy including (in weight percent): Zn 6.0-11.0, Cu 1.4-2.2, Mg 1.4-2.4, Zr 0.05-0.15, T <0.05, Hf and/or V <0.25, and optionally Sc and/or Ce 0.05-0.25, and Mn 0.05-0.12, other elements each less than 0.05 and less than 0.50 in total, balance aluminium, wherein such alloy has an essentially fully unrecrystallized microstructure at least at the position T/10 of the finished product.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As will be appreciated hereinbelow, except as otherwise indicated, alloy designations and temper designations refer to the Aluminum Association designations in Aluminum Standards and Data and the Registration Records, all published by the US Aluminum Association.
One or more of the above mentioned objects of the invention are achieved by using an Al�Zn alloy product with an improved combination of high toughness and high strength by maintaining good corrosion resistance, said alloy comprising, and preferably consisting of, (in weight percent):
Zn 6.0 to 11.0 Cu 1.4 to 2.2 Mg 1.4 to 2.4 Zr 0.05 to 0.15 Ti <0.05, Hf and/or V <0.25, optionally Sc and/or Ce 0.05 to 0.25, and optionally Mn 0.05 to 0.12, and inevitable impurities and balance aluminium, preferably other elements each less than 0.05 and less than 0.50 in total, and wherein the alloy product has a substantially fully unrecrystallized microstructure at the position T/10 of the finished product. Such chemistry window for an AA7000-series alloy exhibits excellent properties when produced to relatively thin plate products, and which is preferably useable in aerospace upper-wing applications having gauges in the range of 20 mm to 60 mm.
The above defined chemistry has properties which are comparable or better than existing alloys of the AA7�50 or AA7�55 series in the T77-temper, without using the above described cumbersome and complicated T77 three-step ageing cycles. The chemistry leads to an aluminium product which is more cost effective and is also simpler to produce since less processing steps are necessary. Additionally, the chemistry allows new manufacturing techniques like age forming or age creep forming which is not feasible when a T77-temper alloy is applied. Even better, the chemistry as defined above can also be aged to the T77-temper whereby the corrosion resistance further improves.
Apart from the amounts of magnesium and copper the invention discloses a balance of magnesium and copper amounts to zinc, especially the balance of magnesium to zinc, which gives the alloy these performance characteristics. The improved corrosion resistance of the alloy according to the invention has exfoliation properties (�EXCO�) of EB or better, preferably EA or better.
A preferred method for producing a high strength, high toughness Al�Zn alloy product with good corrosion resistance according to the present invention comprises the steps of
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention the method includes a first hot rolling of the ingot which has been homogenised into a pre-worked product, hot rolling the re-heated product to about 150 to 250 (in final-gauge %) and then cold rolling the hot rolled product to the final gauge or hot rolling the re-heated product to about 105 to 140 (in final-gauge %) and then cold rolling the hot rolled product to the final gauge. �Final-gauge %� means a percentage in thickness compared to the thickness of the final product. 200 final-gauge % means a thickness which is twice as much as the thickness of the finally worked product. That means that it has been found that it is advantageous to first hot roll the pre-heated product to a thickness which is about twice as high as the thickness of the final product and then cold rolling the hot rolled product to the final thickness or to hot roll the pre-heated product to a thickness which is about 20% higher than the thickness of the final product and then cold rolling the product, thereby obtaining another about 20% reduction of the gauge of the hot rolled product.
According to another embodiment of the present invention it is advantageous to hot roll the re-heated product at low temperatures in the range of 300� C. to 420� C. so that the alloy does not recrystallise. Optionally, it is possible to artificially ageing the worked and heat-treated product with a two-step T79 or T76 temper or to use a T77-three step temper if SCC performance shall be improved.
The present invention also concerns a plate product of high strength, high toughness Al�Zn alloy of the aforementioned composition which plate product is preferably a thin aircraft member, even more preferably an elongate structural shape member such as an upper-wing member, a thin skin member of an upper-wing or of a stringer of an aircraft.
The properties of the claimed alloy may further be enhanced by an artificial ageing step comprising a first heat treatment at a temperature in a range of 105� C. to 135� C., preferably around 120� C. for 2 to 20 hours, preferably around 8 hours and a second heat treatment at a higher temperature then 135� C. but below 210� C., preferably around 155� C. for 4 to 12 hours, preferably 8 to 10 hours.
EXAMPLES Example 1 On a laboratory scale 14 different aluminium alloys have been cast into ingots, homogenised, pre-heated for more than 6 hours at about 410� C. and hot rolled to 4 mm plates. Solution heat treatment was done at 475� C. and thereafter water quenched. Thereafter, the quenched product was aged by a two-step T76 ageing procedure. The chemical compositions are set out in Table 1.
0.06 Sc
1. Homogenisation was performed by heating at a temperature rate of 40� C./h to a temperature of 460� C., then soaking for 12 hours at 460� C. and another increase with 25� C./h to a temperature of 475� C. with another soaking for 24 hours at 475� C., and air cooling to room temperature. 2. Pre-heating was done at 420� C. for 6 hours with a heating rate of 40� C./h. 3. The lab scale ingots were hot rolled from 80 to 25 mm, thereby reducing the gauge by about 6 to 8 mm per pass. 4. The 25 mm thick products were reheated to 420� C. for about 30 min. 5. Variant 1: The reheated product was hot rolled to 4.0 mm.
Variant 2: The reheated product was hot rolled to 8.0 mm and thereafter cold rolled to 4.0 mm. Variant 3: The reheated product was hot rolled to 5.0 mm and then cold rolled to 4.0 mm. 6. Solution heat treatment was done for 1 hour at 475� C., thereafter water quenched. 7. Stretching was done by 1.5 to 2.0% within about 1 hour after quenching. 8. Thereafter, the stretched products were aged in accordance with a T76 ageing procedure, thereby raising the temperature to 120� C. at a rate of 30� C./h and maintaining the temperature at 120� C. for 5 hours, raising the temperature at a rate of 15� C./h to a temperature of 160� C. and soaking for 6 hours, and air cooling the aged product to room temperature. Strength was measured using small Euronorm and toughness were measured in accordance with ASTM B-871(1996). The results of the three above-mentioned variants are shown in Table 2a to 2c.
Example 2 Additional chemistries have been processed in accordance with the above-mentioned processing steps 1 to 8, thereby using the variant 3 of step 5 of example 1 above and a T76 ageing.
0.04 Ce
The toughness versus tensile yield strength (Rp) shown in Table 4 clearly shows that the best toughness versus tensile yield strength value is obtained for alloys having around 8.6 to 8.7 weight % zinc. Alloys with lower levels of zinc will show similar toughness values but the tensile strength is�generally speaking�lower whereas high levels of zinc result in higher strength levels but lower toughness levels. Small amounts of manganese do increase the strength at the cost of toughness.
Example 3 Further tests were done with zinc levels of 8.6 and 8.7 wt. % thereby varying copper and magnesium levels. It can be shown that toughness levels can be elevated at the same strength levels. Some additional alloys were processed similar as to the ones in Example 2, thereby using the processing steps 1 to 8 as described above and Variant 3 of step 5 of Example 1.
According to another embodiment of the present invention it is advantageous to hot roll the re-heated product at low temperatures in the range of 300� C. to 420� C. so that the alloy does not recrystallise. Optionally, it is possible to artificially age the worked and heat-treated product with a two-step T79 or T76 temper or to use a T77-three step temper if SCC performance shall be improved.
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Dobatkin, Smelting and Casting of Aluminum Alloys, Moscow, "Metallurgy," 1970, p. 27.Classifications U.S. Classification148/552International ClassificationC22F1/04Cooperative ClassificationC22C21/10European ClassificationC22C21/10Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 14, 2008ASAssignmentOwner name: ALERIS ALUMINUM KOBLENZ GMBH, GERMANYFree format text: RE-RECORD TO CORRECT THE NAME OF THE ASSGINEE, PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 021497 FRAME 0417.;ASSIGNOR:CORUS ALUMINIUM WALZPRODUKTE GMBH;REEL/FRAME:021677/0510Effective date: 20061222Owner name: ALERIS ALUMINUM KOBLENZ GMBH,GERMANYFree format text: RE-RECORD TO CORRECT THE NAME OF THE ASSGINEE, PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 021497 FRAME 0417;ASSIGNOR:CORUS ALUMINIUM WALZPRODUKTE GMBH;US-ASSIGNMENT DATABASE UPDATED:20100223;REEL/FRAME:21677/510Free format text: RE-RECORD TO CORRECT THE NAME OF THE ASSGINEE, PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 021497 FRAME 0417;ASSIGNOR:CORUS ALUMINIUM WALZPRODUKTE GMBH;REEL/FRAME:021677/0510Sep 8, 2008ASAssignmentOwner name: ALERIS ALUMINIUM KOBLENZ GMBH, GERMANYFree format text: CHANGE OF NAME;ASSIGNOR:CORUS ALUMINIUM WALTZPRODUKTE GMBH;REEL/FRAME:021497/0417Effective date: 20061222Owner name: ALERIS ALUMINIUM KOBLENZ GMBH,GERMANYFree format text: CHANGE OF NAME;ASSIGNOR:CORUS ALUMINIUM WALTZPRODUKTE GMBH;US-ASSIGNMENT DATABASE UPDATED:20100223;REEL/FRAME:21497/417Apr 20, 2006ASAssignmentOwner name: CORUS ALUMINIUM WALZPRODUKTE GMBH, GERMANYFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:BENEDICTUS, RINZE;KEIDEL, CHRISTIAN JOACHIM;HEINZ, ALFRED LUDWIG;REEL/FRAME:017798/0037;SIGNING DATES FROM 20060330 TO 20060406Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:BENEDICTUS, RINZE;KEIDEL, CHRISTIAN JOACHIM;HEINZ, ALFRED LUDWIG;SIGNING DATES FROM 20060330 TO 20060406;REEL/FRAME:017798/0037RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google