Abstract:Al-Zn-Mg-Cu (7050) alloy has been selected as a model system for the investigation of precipitate stability,subject to proton irradiation during solar flare events.10 MeV Cl3+ heavy-ions were used as surrogate,for accelerated simulation experiment at room temperature,up to a fluence of 5.0×1018 ions/m2.The dimensional and structural stability of strengthening precipitates η′-MgZn2 and η-MgZn2 were analyzed,and their impacts upon nanohardness were evaluated.Characterizations based on transmission electron microscopy confirmed that:(1) nano-scale dispersed η′-MgZn2 demonstrated high dimensional stability,however partly prone to ballistic mixing and vacancy-induced dissolution,thereby reducing the total precipitate population;(2) equilibrium phase η-MgZn2 were distributed at grain boundaries and within grain interiors,exhibited pronounced coarsening due to radiation-enhanced diffusion,but the precipitate population remained almost constant.Nanohardness evaluation indicated negligible irradiation hardening,probably associated with the contribution of irradiation-induced defect clusters,which hindered dislocation motion,and compensated the softening caused by the partial loss of η′-MgZn2.The current study shows that it is crucial to focus on the dissolution of η′-MgZn2 and the coarsening of η-MgZn2,and mitigate the effects by enhanced precipitate/matrix interface stability and increased defect sink densities,so as to enhance the radiation tolerance of materials.