Structural Changes in the Aluminum - Magnesium System Alloy

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study the structure and mechanical properties of an aluminum – magnesium system alloy after various types of heat treatment (quenching and ageing). The microstructure of an alloy has been studied by means of Zeiss OBSERVER.D1m microscope combined with a camera and image display on a monitor screen. Micro X-ray spectral analysis was performed by means of Carl Zeiss EVO 50 scanning electron microscope. The micro-hardness of the samples has been measured on prepared metallographic sections by means of DM8 micro-hardness meter. In the course of the process it has been found that quenching the Al-12,78% Mg alloy from temperatures of 430–440 ° C does not lead to the formation of a single-phase solid solution. Ageing at 100 ° C enables the formation of secondary phases. It was noted that with an increase in the quenching temperature, the micro-hardness increases slightly. An increase in the exposure time doesn’t influence greatly the micro-hardness of the alloy, while the structure remains practically unchanged.