Hot Compression Deformation Behavior and Microstructure of As-Cast and Homogenized AA2195 Al-Li Alloy

To understand the effect of the initial state of AA2195 Al-Li alloy on the forming process, as-cast and homogenized ingots were compressed by using a Gleeble-3150 thermo-mechanical simulator at different temperatures (360–480 °C) and strain rates (0.01–10 s⁻¹). The hot compression deformation behaviors and microstructural characteristics of the two types of ingots were systematically investigated. The as-cast alloy possessed a better hot compressibility with higher power dissipation efficiency and lower rheological stress than the homogenized alloy under the same deformation conditions. When the temperature was increased above 450 °C, all the alloys showed similar rheological curves. Based on the rheological stress curves, processing maps for the as-cast (AC) and homogenized (HG) alloys were established, and optimal processing domains were identified. In addition, the homogenized alloys were dominated by a fibrous microstructure during deformation, whereas the as-cast alloy produced fine crystals at low temperature (360 °C) and equiaxed crystals at high temperature (480 °C). Our results show that it is possible to use the as-cast 2195 Al-Li alloy as the initial billet to get complicated components. This is attributed to the dispersed eutectic phases, which can provide more nucleation sites for Dynamic Recrystallization (DRX) and Dynamic Recovery (DRV) during hot deformation.