Strengthening mechanism of age-hardenable Al– x Mg–3Zn alloys

The addition of 3 wt-% Zn to the traditional Al–Mg alloy doubled its strength. To understand the strengthening mechanism, the enhancement in strength with the variation in Mg content was studied. The grain boundary and solid solution strengthening decrease with the reduction in the Mg content; however, their contributions to the yield strength are insignificant. The contribution of precipitation strengthening to the yield strength is more than 80%; however, due to the unchanged precipitate characteristics, the strengthening effect changes slightly with the variation in the Mg content. The reduction in strength is primarily due to Mg solid solution strengthening. The variation in the ductility of Al–Mg–Zn alloys was studied by fracture analysis.