Vacuum heat treatment of aerospace aluminum alloy materials

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Aerospace aluminum alloys mainly refer to: military aircraft, civil aircraft, spacecraft, and launch vehicles. In aircraft materials, aluminum materials account for more than 80%. Typical aerospace aluminum alloy products: pre-stretched sheet 7075, skin sheet, forgings, large integral wall panels, beam profiles, etc. Aluminum alloy is the main structural material of aerospace equipment. One generation of aluminum alloy is one generation of high-tech equipment. After five generations of development, it has promoted the development of aerospace technology.

With the development of the aerospace industry and other material technologies, aluminum faces some of the toughest challenges in history in terms of performance and specifications. The development of aluminum alloys aims at reducing the weight of the structure, high reliability and long life, and mainly focuses on high strength, toughness, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, high comprehensive performance, service performance in extreme environments, and large-scale high-performance materials with uniform performance and small residual stress. Therefore, it is necessary to precisely control the microstructure of the material through the vacuum heat treatment process to improve the comprehensive properties of the aluminum alloy, and to meet the harsh requirements of the aerospace industry development on the material. Its role is crucial and indispensable.

Application of aluminum alloy in aerospace field

The aluminum alloys used in different parts of the aircraft are mainly 2X24, 7X75, 7X5X, etc. The alloy grades and heat treatment conditions change with the ages. The main advanced aluminum alloys used in Boeing777 airliners are 7055-T77, 7150-T77, 2X24-T3 and so on. The main advanced aluminum alloys used by Airbus are 70×5, 2024 and so on. The applications of aluminum alloys in aerospace launch vehicles mainly include 7075, 20×4, 2219, etc. The aerospace field mainly uses high-strength and high-toughness 2xxx series and 7xxx series aluminum alloys. In order to meet the requirements of high strength, high toughness, corrosion resistance and fatigue resistance of aluminum alloy materials for aircraft and launch vehicles, in addition to improving smelting and casting technology, in addition to ensuring the quality of ingots from the source, and precision processing technology, it is also necessary to improve the quality of aluminum alloys. Perform the necessary and precise vacuum heat treatment.

Effect of Homogenization Treatment on Alloy Properties

Solution treatment

The development of high-strength aluminum alloys is basically developed along the route of high strength→high strength, high toughness→high strength, high toughness, corrosion resistance→high strength, high toughness, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, and high comprehensive performance. Subsequently, the development of the heat treatment state progresses in the direction of T6→T73→T76→T736(T74)→T77, that is, in the order of peak aging→overaging→regression and re-aging.

Equipment selection: The RVT series vacuum heat treatment furnace produced by SIMUWU is a high-quality product for the vacuum heat treatment of tooling and molds. Good temperature control accuracy and temperature control uniformity ensure the effective progress of the vacuum heat treatment process. SIMUWU specializes in the manufacture of vacuum furnaces, has more than ten years of relevant experience, and has a good reputation in the field of vacuum furnace manufacturing. The product line includes vacuum air quenching furnace, vacuum oil quenching furnace, vacuum brazing furnace, etc., which are widely sold in developed and developing countries.