Residual stress prediction and determination in 7010 aluminum alloy forgings

Abstract

Precipitation-hardened aluminum alloys gain their high strength through heat treatment involving a severe quenching operation, which can have the adverse effect of in- troducing residual stresses. The finite element code ABAQUS is used to simulate the quenching of aluminum alloy 7010 in an attempt to predict the residual stress distribution that de- velops in simple shapes. The rate of heat transfer from the material is determined using the finite element method to pre- dict the heat transfer coefficient from surface cooling curves achieved experimentally. The flow stress of the material is as- sumed to be strain rate dependent and to behave in a perfectly plastic manner. The predicted residual stress magnitudes and directions are compared to values determined using the hole- drilling strain gage method and the X-ray diffraction technique. KEY WORDS—residual stress, aluminum alloy, forging, solu- tion heat treatment