Recovery Phenomenon During Annealing of an As-Rapidly Solidified Al Alloy

It has been well documented that recovery occurring in metals/alloys produced via solid-state quenching involves only annihilation of supersaturated vacancies. Interestingly, in the present study, we observed completely different mechanisms underlying recovery during annealing of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu (7075 Al) alloy processed via liquid-state quenching, i.e., rapid solidification (specifically melt spinning herein). The as-melt-spun alloy consists of refined grains containing tangled dislocations inside the grains. Following annealing at 393 K (120 °C) for 24 hours, refined grain structure was still retained and grain sizes essentially remained unchanged, but subgrains separated by dense dislocation walls were generated at grain interiors, with a much lower density of dislocations at subgrain interiors than that in the as-melt-spun 7075 Al alloy and dislocation arrays inside some subgrains. The microstructural evolution suggests the absence of recrystallization and the occurrence of recovery primarily via the annihilation and rearrangement of dislocations and the formation of subgrains. Based on the stored energy in dislocations in, and the annealing temperature of, the as-melt-spun 7075 Al alloy, the recovery phenomenon was analyzed and discussed in detail.