A mechanical stress relief is typically used to alleviate residual stresses generated during quenching of 7050 aluminum forgings after solution treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of section thickness and amount of plastic strain introduced via compression on the aging response of aluminum alloy 7050. Specimens of varying thickness were solution heat-treated at 471degreesC for 2.5 hours and water quenched. They were then compressed to introduce strains of from 1% to 5%, and artificially aged to the final T7452 temper. Specimens were then sectioned and hardness profiles through the thickness were obtained to characterize the aging response. Selected tensile tests were also performed to evaluate the effects of variation in the compression stress relief operation on strength.