Microstructure and mechanical properties of powder metallurgy 2024 aluminum alloy during cold rolling

To improve the low compactness and limited size of powder metallurgy (P/M) aluminum alloy materials, cold rolling deformation on P/M aluminum alloy was carried out in this work. And the microstructure and mechanical properties of P/M aluminum alloy during cold rolling were investigated from multi-dimensional and multi-scale perspectives. The results indicate that the microstructure gradually evolved from the original equiaxial structure to the fiber structure after cold rolling. Also, the grain size decreased with an increase in cumulative reductions. When the cumulative reduction was increased from 0 to 80%, the relative density and tensile strength of the samples increased from 98.31% to 221.94 MPa to 99.04% and 302.88 MPa, respectively. On this basis, the synergetic effect of microstructure densification and deformation strengthening of the P/M 2024 Al alloy during cold rolling was investigated. The improved mechanical properties mainly resulted from the combined effects of the increased microstructural compactness and deformation strengthening.