Experimental and theoretical investigation of stress variation in AlCu4Mg1 aluminum alloy

Abstract

This paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical studies regarding the behavior of AlCu4Mg1 aluminum alloy after a heat treatment. The methodology has been proposed to study improvements in AlCu4Mg1 aluminum alloy in the process of heat treatment, which included the following steps: (1) adopting the heat treatment technology for the specified alloy, (2) choosing the necessary heat treatment installations to perform the heat treatment of the specified alloy, (3) choosing tools and machines used to study the mechanical characteristics, and (4) planning the experiment and analytical interpretation of the results. On the basis of these experiments and the obtained regression equation, we performed a theoretical study with the aim to determine the heating parameters for quenching and aging in order to obtain a specified stress needed for application of this alloy. We considered two cases for this theoretical study: (1) the stress and quenching temperatures were fixed and we determined the aging temperature; (2) the stress and aging temperatures were fixed and we determined the quenching temperature. Using the determined equations, we assumed the definite characteristics needed for the working part after treatment and calculated the parameters for quenching and artificial aging in the process of the heat treatment. Note that the calculated temperatures should be in the standard limits for the studied alloy. In conclusion, an algorithm was proposed for the process of the optimum heat treatment in order to obtain the necessary properties of the working parts.