Influence of heated forming tools on corrosion behavior of high strength aluminum alloys

Abstract In this study forming tools temperated at 24 °C and 350 °C were used to systematically investigate the influence of different cooling rates on the mechanical and corrosion properties of a high strength aluminum alloy AA7075 within a novel thermo‐mechanical process that combines forming and quenching simultaneously. The samples formed within heated tools reveal higher ductility and lower material strength compared to the parts processed in cold tools. In addition, the corrosion behavior changed between samples formed with 24 °C forming tools and 350 °C forming tools, respectively. Through cyclic polarization in chloride containing aqueous media a change in the hysteresis and shift of open circuit potential was observed. Metallographic investigation revealed that there was also a very different corrosion morphology for the samples formed within the heated tools. No change in average grain size could be detected but changes of the microstructure in subgrain scale that occur during the forming within the heated tools are responsible for this effect. In further research, the effect of various cooling rates on mechanical and corrosion behavior and the microstructure will be investigated by variation of the forming tool temperature.