Prediction of Hardness of the Zn-Al-Cu Alloys of Agreement by Composition in Weight

Ten alloys Zn – Al – Cu were developed in two parts, in agreement to two zones presented in the isopleth diagrams (Villas et al., 1995). The percentage of Cu and Al was systematically varied. Subsequently, hardness measurements were performed. These measurements allowed establishing two equations that predict the hardness with an error lower than 5%. With these equations, it is possible to obtain alloys that replace Al base alloys by a Zn base alloy, having the same hardness. This implicates also the elimination of the volumetric change in the presence of ε phase.