Mechanical Properties of Sintered of Al-5.5Zn-2.5Mg-0.5Cu PM Alloy

In this research, Al-5.5Zn-2.5Mg-0.5Cu was investigated. Compaction pressure at 700 MPa was carried out to make green body materials. Strong interlocking between particles is expected after high compaction process. Sintering of aluminum composites powder is sensitive to the humidity. High purity nitrogen gas was used to sinter this material from 560o-585°C for 1 hour. Sintering density increased with increasing sintering temperature and reached 96% relative sintering density at 580°C. Mechanical properties investigation of this material was done with hardness and tensile test. At optimum sintering conditions, this material has 40 HRB hardness and 329 MPa tensile strength. Based on chemical composition, this material has possibility to improve mechanical properties by T6 heat treatment. Strengthening precipitates such as MgZn2 and CuAl2 were expected as results from T6 heat treatment. Mechanical properties improved with this treatment with reaching 513 MPa of tensile strength. SEM, DSC-TGA and X-Ray Diffraction were used to characterize this material.