Effect of Various Forms of Aluminum 6082 on the Mechanical Properties, Microstructure and Surface Modification of the Profile after Extrusion Process.

Piotr Noga,Andrzej Piotrowicz,Paweł Strzępek,Tomasz Skrzekut,Adam Zwoliński

doi:10.3390/ma14175066

Abstract

This article presents a method of reusing aluminum scrap from alloy 6082 using the hot extrusion process. Aluminum chips from milling and turning processes, having different sizes and morphologies, were cold pressed into briquettes prior to hot pressing at 400 °C at a ram speed of 2 mm/s. The study of mechanical properties combined with observations of the microstructures, as well as tests of density, hardness and electrical conductivity were carried out. On the basis of the results, the possibility of using the plastic consolidation method and obtaining materials with similar to a solid ingot mechanical properties, density and electrical conductivity was proven. The possibility of modifying the surface of consolidated aluminum scrap was tested in processes examples: polishing, anodizing and coloring. For this purpose, a number of analyses and tests were carried out: comparison of colors on color histograms, roughness determination, SEM and chemical composition analysis. It has been proven there are differences in the surface treatment of the solid material and that of scrap consolidation, and as such, these differences may significantly affect the final quality.

Highlights

Recycling of light metals is largely based on the remelting method
The concept of recycling based on the plastic consolidation method creates opportunities to reduce losses during recycling and significantly reduces the energy consumption
Based on the chemical composition and the analysis of the literature [42,43,44], it might be concluded that the bright areas are the Al (FeMn) Si phase

Summary

Introduction

Recycling of light metals is largely based on the remelting method. For this purpose, various types of melting furnaces are used, from low-cost gas furnaces to electric furnaces with a special system of loading the initial material into the liquid metal which significantly increases the recycling yield, and increases the processing cost. The low recycling yield of the melting methods (especially small chips, tapes, thin wires) causes irreversible losses of metal (forms low-quality slags and drosses) and energy used for the aluminum production [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The concept of recycling based on the plastic consolidation method creates opportunities to reduce losses during recycling and significantly reduces the energy consumption

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Conclusion