Effect of solution/precepitation hardening on Alum 6061 T6
Effect of solution/precepitation hardening on Alum 6061 T6
(OP)
Guys,
We have a alum welded assembly. Basically 2 parts welded together.
Part 1 : A356 at T4 condition
Part 2 : Alum 6061 T6 condition
After welding them, there is a HAZ developed. We are trying to heat treat and bring the temper to T6 at HAZ. Now, I have learnt that there are 2 stages in this heat treatment process.
Stage 1 : Solution/ Precipitation hardening. This process will bring the temper to T4 condition (I guess)
Stage 2 : Artificial Aging. This process involves rapid quenching after heattreatment. I learnt there are couple of different time/temp configurations.
How ever my question is; Since one of the part2 is already at T6 before welding. After weld this part2 will actually have 2 tempers (T6 all over except T0 at HAZ).
What happens to the T6 region in Stage 1 ? What happens to T4 region in stage 1?
Can some one throw some light this for me please.
Thanks
We have a alum welded assembly. Basically 2 parts welded together.
Part 1 : A356 at T4 condition
Part 2 : Alum 6061 T6 condition
After welding them, there is a HAZ developed. We are trying to heat treat and bring the temper to T6 at HAZ. Now, I have learnt that there are 2 stages in this heat treatment process.
Stage 1 : Solution/ Precipitation hardening. This process will bring the temper to T4 condition (I guess)
Stage 2 : Artificial Aging. This process involves rapid quenching after heattreatment. I learnt there are couple of different time/temp configurations.
How ever my question is; Since one of the part2 is already at T6 before welding. After weld this part2 will actually have 2 tempers (T6 all over except T0 at HAZ).
What happens to the T6 region in Stage 1 ? What happens to T4 region in stage 1?
Can some one throw some light this for me please.
Thanks





RE: Effect of solution/precepitation hardening on Alum 6061 T6
1. Solution treatment is performed by heating and then quenching. This puts the Aluminum alloy in the "O" condition which is metastable and ready to be age hardened (precipitation treatment).
2. Preciptation treatment or age hardnening is performed by a lower temperature process over a longer perion of time.
Someone will give you the process temperature and times for these two processes.
Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability
RE: Effect of solution/precepitation hardening on Alum 6061 T6
It is also common practice to repair defects in A356-T6 aluminum sand castings using welding, and then stress relieve and re-heat treat the repaired casting to a -T6 condition. As long as you use the correct filler alloy when welding, there should be no problem with heat treating the A356/6061 weldment to a -T6 condition, including the weld HAZ.
RE: Effect of solution/precepitation hardening on Alum 6061 T6