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As welded aluminum - over time

As welded aluminum - over time

As welded aluminum - over time

(OP)
All,

The mechanical properties of aluminum near a weld are typically taken substantially lower than away from the weld in design. I am talking about the base metal near the welded zone, not the actual filler metal. Do these as-welded values change over time?

i.e. 6061 T6 has a yield strength of around 35 ksi, but near the weld, it has a yield strength of 16 ksi. Does the 16 increase over time, like 25 yrs later for example? Is there a reference for these "aged" values?

tg

RE: As welded aluminum - over time

This might get some more responses in the "metallurgy" forums, as it's quite a peculiar metallurgic topic.
There are some kinds of naturally ageing aluminium alloys (naturally as in room temperature, no heat treatment), that - in combination with specific filler alloys, regain their strength after time (from 2 days to much longer).7xxx-T6 comes to mind.
I have some references, but no actual experience. As this is a rather wide or open question, you might be more specific in order to get specific responses.

RE: As welded aluminum - over time

Most of the common structural alloys of aluminum (6061-T6, 6063-T6, etc) are "aged" to achieve their final T6 temper. That aging is done at ambient cooling temperatures. Although the reduction in allowable stresses is required by code, it is done so because of the unpredictability of the properties of aluminum at or near the weld heat affected zone. In short, there is likely some age-effect increase in strength, but not something you can predict or count on. I would suggest that you do a microhardness traverse across the area to see if you have hardness differences and corresponding strength differences. From that you can then take coupon samples and test them to correlate.

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