Origin and effect of anisotropy in creep aging behavior of Al–Cu–Li alloy

The precise control of forming in the new generation Al–Li alloy is challenged by the anisotropic creep aging behaviors. This anisotropy is influenced by coupling effect the microstructure and process parameters during creep age forming, where process parameters such as creep aging temperature and stress play a crucial role. Taking the 2195 Al–Cu–Li alloy as an example material, the study aimed to investigate the effect of creep aging temperatures (140–200 °C) and stresses (150–200 MPa) on the anisotropic creep aging behaviors. The findings revealed that with increasing temperature and stress, the in planar anisotropy (IPA) value of creep deformation decreased from 19.1% to 9.4%, the IPA value of strength decreased from 10.3% to 5.1%. The study uncovered the anisotropy of creep aging and its mitigation mechanisms. The analysis revealed the crucial role of the initial texture and precipitation. By regulating the type and size of precipitates, the process parameters can mitigate anisotropic creep aging behavior. The stress-oriented precipitation of GPI (θ″) zones intensifies creep aging anisotropy, while the homogeneous precipitation of T1 phase hinders creep aging anisotropy, the smaller and more uniform the T1 phase, the stronger the hindering effect. The coarsened T1 phase have a relatively small effect on creep aging anisotropy. In conclusion, the optimal combination of low deformation anisotropy (9.4%) and excellent yield strength (527 MPa) can be achieved when the creep aging temperature is set at 170 °C under 200 MPa.