Microstructure evolution of aluminum-lithium alloy 2195 undergoing commercial production

Microstructures of three kinds of typical product states for commercially fabricated alloy 2195 were observed.It is found that the hot-rolled plate is characterized by a fibrous structure containing fine,polygonized substructures;and the cold-rolled sheet was characterized by a "pan-caked" grain structure containing high density dislocation cells.The product under near peak-aging temper is proved to contain a large amount of dispersive,plate-shaped T1(Al2CuLi) precipitates,together with a small fraction of θ’(Al2Cu) plates,exhibiting a desirable combination of mechanical properties.Analyses using scanning electron microscopy reveal that many coarse,irregular-shaped Al7Cu2Fe constituent particles exist in all product states,which indicates that intermediate heat treatments have little influence on this iron-caused,detrimental phase.The formation and evolution of microstructures for different product states of alloy 2195 were discussed in view point of the commercial production condition.