Effect of a Trace Addition of Sn on the Aging Behavior of Al-Mg-Si Alloy with a Different Mg/Si Ratio

Lehang Ma; Jianguo Tang; Wenbin Tu; Lingying Ye; Haichun Jiang; Xin Zhan; Jiuhui Zhao

doi:10.3390/ma13040913

Effect of a Trace Addition of Sn on the Aging Behavior of Al-Mg-Si Alloy with a Different Mg/Si Ratio

Materials (Basel). 2020 Feb 19;13(4):913. doi: 10.3390/ma13040913.

Authors

Lehang Ma¹, Jianguo Tang^{1

2}, Wenbin Tu², Lingying Ye^{1

2}, Haichun Jiang³, Xin Zhan², Jiuhui Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Light Alloy Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
³ MINTH Research and Development Center, Anji 313300, China.

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of trace Sn on the precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Si alloys with different Mg/Si ratios aged at 180 °C was investigated using hardness measurements, a room-temperature tensile test, transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The results shown that Sn reduces the precipitation activation energy, increases the number density of β″ precipitates, and then increased the aging hardenability and mechanical properties of the Al-Mg-Si alloy. However, the positive effect of Sn on the mechanical properties of the Al-Mg-Si alloy drops with the decrease of the Mg/Si ratio of the alloy.

Keywords: Al–Mg–Si alloy; Mg/Si ratio; activation energy; artificial aging; trace Sn.