Simultaneously Enhanced Strength and Ductility of Al–Mg–Si Alloys during Aging Process Induced by Electro-Pulsing Treatment

Most methods used for strengthening metallic materials, such as thermal-mechanical treatment, will sacrifice the ductility. A novel technology, electric pulsing treatment (EPT), is applied to break this trade-off, which produces an Al–Mg–Si alloy with superior ductility and higher strength within only 560 ms. Systematic electron microscopy characterization and finite element simulation reveal that EPT promotes the formation of clusters Mg(2)(Si,Cu)(3) and sub-grain boundaries. The results of quantitative calculation indicate that the dislocation entanglement is delayed due to the existence of clusters and longer dislocation glide distance, so that ultimate strength is fully improved. Moreover, the superior ductility is mainly governed by sub-grains which lead to higher mobile dislocation density, appearance of new crystal orientations, and prevention of crack propagation. Thereupon, this interesting finding paves the way in developing the Al–Mg–Si alloy with higher mechanical properties efficiently.