Investigation of the Effect of Different Heat Treatments on Wear Behavior of AA7075 Alloy

In this study, wear behavior of AA7075 alloy applied different ageing heat treatments is examined. During each ageing heat treatment, the relevant samples are processed with solid solution at 485°C for 2 h. After the quenching process, ageing processes were performed. The T6 heat treatment is applied at 120°C for 24 h. Along the re-ageing heat treatment process, samples undergone the T6 process is taken into the solid solution at 120°C once more and aged at the given temperature for 24 h. In the high temperature heat treatment process, the samples are pre-precipitated at 445°C for 30 min and then taken to ageing process at 120°C for 24 h. Wear tests are carried out at 1 m/s constant sliding speed and under 20 N load along four different sliding distances (300-1200 m). The amount of precipitation observed from the structure exhibits difference at the second phase with respect to applied ageing heat treatment. Finest precipitation particle is observed with T6 heat treatment and the coarse precipitation is with the high temperature heat treatment. Furthermore, a relationship is determined between dimension of the second phase precipitation and hardness values.