Effect of Hardness Test on Precipitation Hardening Aluminium Alloy 6061-T6
Chee Fai Tan, and Mohamad R. Said* Author for corresponding; e-mail address: cheefai@utem.edu.my
Volume: Vol.36 No.3 (SEPTEMBER 2009)
Research Article
DOI:
Received: 27 December 2008, Revised: -, Accepted: 10 April 2009, Published: -
Citation: Tan C.F. and Said M.R., Effect of Hardness Test on Precipitation Hardening Aluminium Alloy 6061-T6, Chiang Mai Journal of Science, 2009; 36(3): 276-286.
Abstract
The paper presents an experimental study on precipitation of aluminium alloy 6061-T6 to determine the effect of artificial ageing on the hardness of aluminium alloy 6061-T6. The precipitation hardening is a thermal treatment, which consists of a heat treatment, quenching and artificial ageing process. The experimental study is focused on artificial ageing upon which the temperature is varying between 175oC to 420oC at different period of time. The Vickers hardness test is to evaluate the hardness of aluminium alloy 6061-T6 before and after ageing process. The optimum ageing time and temperature is determined at the end of this experiment to obtain reduction in energy and total cost. The study leads to the conclusion that the optimum aged was achieved between 175oC to 195oC with 2 to 6 hours of ageing time. The contribution of short time ageing is comparable to that of longer ageing time from previous studies