The objective of this study was to investigate the tensile properties and thermal conductivities of Mg9.3%Al alloy in as-cast state and heat-treated state consisting of fully discontinuous precipitates (DPs), respectively. The fully DPs microstructure was obtained by solution treatment at 405℃ for 24 h, followed by furnace cooling to RT. The as-cast alloy showed a partially divorced eutectic β(Mg₁₇Al₁₂) phase particles formed along the α-(Mg) cell boundaries. The DPs had various apparent (α+β) interlamellar spacings, which is related to different transformation temperatures during the furnace cooling. The DPs microstructure exhibited better tensile strength than the as-cast one, resulting from the higher value of elongation in response to its more homogeneous microstructure. It is noticeable that the DPs microstructure had 12.4% higher thermal conductivity in average than the as-cast one between RT and 200℃. The XRD analyses revealed that the lower Al concentration in the α-(Mg) matrix may well be responsible for the better thermal conductivity of the DPs microstructure.

The Cu-Co-Si alloy shows high strength by forming precipitates by aging precipitation heat treatment of supersaturated solid solution treated with solution treatment such as Cu-Ni-Si alloy, and the Co₂Si precipitated phase is dispersed in the copper matrix. The effect of aging treatment on the microstructure, mechanical and electrical properties of Cu-Co-Si alloys for electronic devices was investigated. As a results of SEM/EDS analysis, it was found that Co₂Si precipitates of 30~300 nm size were distributed in grains. By performing the double aging treatment, it was possible to improve the strength and electrical conductivity by dispersing the fine precipitate evenly.

Heating experiments using the 7075 aluminum alloy in the state of billet and extrudate have been performed to investigate the pertinent ranges of working temperatures and holding times for the application to the various automobile parts. The 7075 specimens from raw billet of 152 mm in diameter and 400 mm in length prior to extrusion were used for heating with a holding time of 10 minutes at temperatures between 380℃ and 550℃. Then, an extrusion process using the billet has been fulfilled at 380℃ with extrusion speed of 0.8 mm/min to get an plate-type extrudate of 75 mm in width and 4.2 mm in thickness. The samples from the extrudate were subjected to heating experiments at temperatures between 380℃ and 440℃ with holding times such as 10 min, 30 min, 60 min and 120 min at each heating temperature. The microstructures were investigated on the optical and EBSD micrographs. The hardness measurement and the tensile test have been performed to investigate the effect of the heat treatment on the mechanical property. The results showed for the 7075 extrusion process that the safe heating of billet can be performed below 450℃ and the extrusion can be done safely up to 400℃.