Abstract
Aluminum profiles—for instance, profiles made of precipitation-hardenable alloys—are increasingly used for decorative details in the automotive industry. Typically, after hot extrusion and at least two to three days of natural aging (NA), the aluminum profiles are artificially aged. A commercial EN AW-6060 alloy of high purity was used for this investigation. Tensile tests were used as the main measurement method. This article focuses on the effect of short-term heat treatment on the point in time at which a significant increase of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) during NA can be measured. Short-term heat treatment is shown to delay this point in time by almost four days, but it increases the variation of UTS. A heterogeneous temperature profile during short-term heat treatment was identified as one reason for this result. Finally, a strategy for minimizing variations in mechanical properties of artificially-aged aluminum alloys was developed, based on the experimental results of this study.
Highlights
Due to their low density, aluminum alloys are often used in the automotive industry
By using several measurement points distributed over the cross-section, the influence of segregation could be evaluated
Temperature fluctuations occur during NIR treatment (Figure 1)
Summary
Due to their low density, aluminum alloys are often used in the automotive industry. The 5000 series and the 6000 series are suitable [1]. After continuous casting and homogenization (about 550 ◦ C) the aluminum is extruded. Because of the temperature of hot extrusion, solution annealing can be carried out during hot extrusion [2]. At this point in the production process, the aluminum profiles have a relatively low strength. With precipitation hardening, the strength of Al alloys can be increased up to
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