The properties of aluminum alloys containing nickel, produced using powder metallurgy method

In this paper, the effects of nickel on the microstructure and mechanical properties of experimental an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu PM alloys under the impacts of the retrogression and re-aging treatment was investigated. Green compacts pressed at 370 MPa were then sintered at temperature 650°C in argon atmosphere for two hours. The sintered samples subjected to the homogenizing condition at 470°C for 1.5 hours then aging at 120°C for 24 hours and retrogressed at 180°C for 30 minutes, and then re-aged at 120°C for 24 hours. Characterization’s results indicate that the microstructures of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Ni PM alloys presented an intermetallics compound in the aluminum’s matrix, identified as the AlNi and Al3Ni2 phases besides the MgZn and Mg2Zn11 phases which produced of the precipitation hardening during heat treatment. These compounds with precipitates provided strengthening of dispersion that led to improved Vickers’s hardness and dinsifications properties of the alloys.