Sintering Behaviour and Mechanical Properties of Al-Cu-Mg-Si-Sn Aluminum Alloy

The present study investigates the effect of compaction pressure and sintering temperature on densification response and mechanical properties of the Al-3.8Cu-1Mg-0.8Si-0.3Sn (2712) alloy. The compacts were pressed at 200 and 400 MPa and sintered at temperatures ranging from 570-630A degrees C in vacuum (10(-6) Torr). The objective of the present work is to obtain an optimum sintering conditions for achieving higher sintered densities and mechanical properties. The effect of sintering temperature is evaluated by measuring the sintered density, densification parameter, microstructure, phase changes and mechanical properties. While a higher sintering temperature results in densification enhancement, it also leads to microstructural coarsening. Significant improvement in mechanical properties is obtained through age-hardening of sintered alloy under various ageing conditions (T4, T6 and T8).