For an up-coming lab at uni I need to know the effect TF (solution heat treated and artifically aged) has on the microstructure of a metal.
Please explain this bit again, Im not feeling it
What is TF the solution that has been heat treated and aged ?????? or are you discussing what that does to the metal.
Right looking at that page it seems to have an FCC structure, and it goes on to talk about the copper particles being grown in amongst the aluminium particles, which then help prevent the grain boundaries from slipping, thus higher hardness.
But if the alloy is allowed to cool then the copper particles will precipitate out and cause boundary deformation. So you need to quench it to keep the copper particles from precipitating out.
So the solution heat treament (best carried around the liquidus temp) will keep it in the solution stage. Then quench the bad boy to retain these copper particles. Then you have the age hardening, natural or artificial that is where the real increase in strength and touchness can occur. The age hardening is just the finishing stage of the process, ad the solution heat treatment will help disperse the copper particles evenly throughout the alloy, with the quenching retaining them, then the ageing aloows the copper particles to spread out evenly to form these slip plainsand alter the mechanical props. Then of course you can alter the way it is carried out, tailoring the alloy for specific property improvements.
Good link from froggy, but also check out azom (
http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=2540) used it many times for some quick and useful info.
I might have got mixed up, it is late and I haven't been doing my materials stuff since about16 months ago so a little rusty. Ive got an MEng in mechanical design, materials, and manufacture, but also pretty much called materials engineering, so should be good at this.
