Investigation on effect of high-efficiency solid solution and hot stamping process on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of high-strength aluminum alloy

Aluminum alloy has become an important lightweight material in the automotive industry due to its excellent performance. The development of hot stamping technology has effectively promoted the application of high-strength aluminum alloys in auto parts. However, aluminum alloy hot stamping requires a long time for solid solution and aging heat treatment, which hinders its mass production application in the existing mature hot stamping production line. Therefore, this paper studies the effect of a high-efficiency solid solution and hot stamping process on the microstructure and mechanical property strengthening mechanism of high-strength aluminum alloy. The contact heating and hot stamping experiment device was designed. It was found that the temperature rise rate of the sheet during the contact heating process could reach 44.51 °C/s. The experiment results show that contact heating treatment with a solution temperature of 480 °C and a solution time of 20s can achieve the high-efficient solution treatment of the sheet metal. The high-temperature deformation behavior of 7075-T6 at different temperatures (300-450 °C) and different strain rates (0.01∼1/s) under the condition of high-efficiency solid solution rapid heating was studied.