Processing of bulk Al7075 alloy by spark plasma sintering

The main advantages of powder metallurgy processing route are the possibility to produce near-net-shape compacts and to minimize the finish machining and material loss. The main problem in particle consolidation process is to suppress porosity, to remove oxide layers, and to retain the microstructure of powder materials. Spark plasma sintering (SPS) combines concurrent uniaxial pressure and direct heating by a pulsed DC current. Sintering occurs at relatively low temperatures for a short time and does not influence significantly the microstructure in the interiors of original powder particles. The efficiency of SPS in producing compacts with low porosity might be dependent on the distribution of particle size in original powder material. The gas atomized Al7075 powder was sieved to several charges and then sintered by SPS. Microstructure of sintered compacts was studied by light and scanning electron microscopy. The phase composition was investigated using X-ray diffraction. The mechanical behaviour was tested by bending tests.