The deformation behaviors of Al2O3/Al composites were investigated by compressive tests conducted at temperature of 300-450 °C and strain rates of 0.001-1.0 s-1 with Gleeble-1500 D thermal simulator system. The results show that the flow stress increases with increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature. The hyperbolic sine constitutive equation can describe the flow stress behavior of Al2O3/Al composites, and the deformation activation energy and constitutive equations were calculated. The processing maps of Al2O3/Al-2 μm and Al2O3/Al-1 μm composites at strain of 0.6 were obtained and the optimum processing domains are in ranges of 300-330 °C, 0.007-0.03 s-1 and 335-360 °C, 0.015-0.06 s-1 for hot working, respectively. The instability zones of flow behavior can also be recognized by the maps.
The Al-9Zn-2.8Mg-2.5Cu-xZr-ySc alloys （x=0, 0.15%, 0.15%; y=0, 0.05%, 0.15%）, produced by low-frequent electromagnetic casting technology, were subjected to homogenization treatment, hot extrusion, solution and aging treatment. The effects of minor Sc and Zr addition on microstructure, recrystallization and properties of alloys were studied by optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The results show that Sc and Zr addition can refine grains of the as-cast alloy by precipitation of primary Al3（Sc,Zr） particles formed during solidification as heterogeneous nuclei. Secondary Al3（Sc,Zr） precipitates formed during homogenization treatment strongly pin the movement of dislocation and subgrain boundaries, which can effectively inhibit the alloys recrystallization. Compared with the alloy without Sc and Zr addition, the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Zr alloy with 0.05%Sc and 0.15%Zr shows the increase in tensile strength and yield strength by 172 MPa and 218 MPa, respectively. Strengthening comes from the contributions of precipitation, substructure and grain refining.
