One of the important developments of 7000 series aluminum has been consistent through thickness strength across sections of material in excess of 8 inches. 7000 series alloys are characterized by the primary alloying element, zinc. Other elements including magnesium and copper in combination with zinc produce the highest strength family of aluminum alloys.

Advancements in alloy development has led to 7000 series aluminum alloys with improved properties through the entire thickness of a finished mold block.
Rolled plates of these alloys provide excellent strength in thickness sections up to 8 inches. Forged mold block takes advantage of recently developed alloys that maintain through thickness strength. To develop the strength properties of 7000 series aluminum, it must be hot worked from a starting ingot: slabs for rolled plate and ingots for forged blocks. The building up of properties in high-strength aluminum involves both mechanical processes (rolling, forging or extruding) and thermal processes (heat treat, quenching and aging).

To acquire the higher yield strength of today’s high-strength aluminum, the manufacturing flow path involves these basics metalworking steps:
• Ingot casting: 7000 series aluminum requires precise measurement of the alloying constituents (zinc, copper and magnesium), by weight percentage as developed by the aluminum manufacturer.
• Hot working (mechanical process): Depending upon the output gauge, aluminum is either hot rolled to plate sizes, typically 8 inches and below or hot forged for thicknesses greater than 8 inches.
• Heat treatment and quench (thermal process): To assure dispersion of alloying elements and a rapid cooling of the heat treated aluminum to build the strength characteristics in the 7000 series alloy matrix
• Cold work (mechanical process): A process to reduce residual stress by stretching the plate or by cold compressing in a large forging press.
• Temper (thermal process): A solution heat treatment and the artificial aging process.