Investigation on the mechanical properties of Heat

treated Aluminium 6063 Alloy

Manojkumar.A

Prof. Radha.R

SMBS, VIT University Chennai Campus,

Chennai, India.
Email: manojkumar.a2013@vit.ac.in

SMBS, VIT University Chennai Campus,

Chennai, India.
Email: radha.r@vit.ac.in

AbstractHeat treatment process has become common technique

for enhancing the mechanical properties of the metals. In this
research paper, various heat treatment processes had been
carried out and compared on Aluminium 6063 Alloy. The effects
of Tensile Strength and Hardness of Annealed, Normalized,
Quenched and tempered Aluminium 6063 Alloy were
investigated and found that, the Quenched specimen holds better
Tensile strength and Hardness characteristics.
KeywordsAluminium 6063: Annealing;
Quenching; Tempering; TensileStrength;Hardness.

I.

Normalizing;

INTRODUCTION

Aluminium is known for its high corrosion resistance and light

weight. Alloy of Aluminium have a major composition of
Aluminium followed by Magnesium, Silicon, Manganese,
Copper, Iron, Chromium, Zinc, and Titanium. The mechanical
properties of aluminum Alloy are affected by working
temperature[1]. Solid solution strengthening has been used to
improve the strength of these Alloy series at temperatures
above 100 to 3000C[2].The initial strength of 6xxx series Alloy
is enhanced through alloying with element such as copper,
magnesium, zinc, and silicon[3]. Because, these alloying
elements in various combinations show increasing solid
solubility in aluminum with increasing temperature, it is
possible to subject them to heat treatments, which will
improve strength. Such treatments include Annealing,
Normalizing, Quenching, and Tempering. Aluminium Alloy
are majorly classified as casting Alloy and wrought Alloy
which can also be sub-divided into heat-treatable and nonheat-treatable metals.
II.

Metals

Composition (%)

Silicon
Iron
Copper
Manganese
Magnesium
Chromium
Zinc
Titanium
Others
Aluminium

0.2 0.6
0 0.35
0 0.10
0 0.10
0.45 0.9
0 0.10
0 0.10
0 0.10
0.05 0.15
97.5 99.93

Table 1. Compositions of Al 6063 alloy

Depends on solution treatment process, the tensile strength

and hardness varies. Un-heat treated Aluminium 6063 Alloy
has tensile strength of 131 Mpa.
III.

HEAT TREATEMENT PROCESS

The heat treatment process carried out in this research paper

are annealing, normalizing, quenching and tempering. The
Aluminium 6063 alloy was procured in the form of bar. It was
later machined to the required dimension. According to the
ASTM standard, the dimension of the specimen for tensile test
is 100 x 25 x 6mm.

MATERIALS

Aluminium 6063 Alloy (Al Si Mg) are commonly used

materials for aerospace industries, because of its high tensile
strength and lighter weight. The major composition metals of
Aluminium 6063 Alloy are Aluminium, Magnesium, and
Silicon. It has good mechanical properties which can also be
heat treatable and weldable. Density of the Aluminium 6063
Alloy is 2.68g/cm3.
Fig 1. Machined specimen

Annealing is the process of heating the metals near its recrystallization temperature and cooling at very low thermal
rate. In this paper, Aluminium 6063 alloy was heated at 2500C
for one hour and cooled in furnace.
Normalizing is the process of heating the metals near its recrystallization temperature and cooling at room temperature.
In this paper, Aluminium 6063 alloy was heated at 2500C for
one hour and cooled in Atmospheric condition.
Quenching is the process of heating the metals near its recrystallization temperature and cooling rapidly using
quenchants. In this paper, Aluminium 6063 alloy was heated
at 2500C for one hour and quenched in water.
Tempering is the process of re-heating the quenched specimen
at low temperature over a period of time and cooling under
atmospheric condition. In this research paper, the quenched
Aluminium 6063 specimen was re-heated at 1000C for one
hour and cooled under atmospheric condition.
IV.

TESTING

After completing the heat treatment process the specimens

were tested, to find out the tensile strength and hardness.
Tensile testing was carried out in Shimadzu AGX-S plus
Universal Testing Machine with cross head speed of
20mm/min.Hardness of the heat treated Aluminium 6063 alloy
were tested using Rockwell hardness testing machine.
V.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

A. Tensile Strength
Tensile strength of Aluminium 6063 Alloy was tested and the
results are evaluated using Shimadzu AGX-S.The
photographic view of the machine as follows.

B. Hardness
The hardness of the Aluminium 6063 Alloy were tested in
Rockwell Hardness tester. The B scale had been chosen for the
Aluminium where the size of the intender was 1/16. Five
trials had been taken at different locations of the specimen and
the average value was calculated.
VI.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

After interpretations of results, the comparison of various

physical parameters had been carried out. This provokes for
determining the better material and options were provided to
choose depends on the working condition. The results are
mentioned below

Annealing

Normalizing

Quenching

Tempering

Tensile
strength
(MPa)

101.266

111.310

130.019

124.733

Hardness
(RHB)

55

50

62

49

Table 2. Mechanical properties of heat treated Al 6063 alloy

140

HEAT TREATMENT PROCESS

Vs
TENSILE STENGTH

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Annealing Normalizing Quenching Tempering
TENSILE STRENGTH

Chart 1. Comparison of Tensile strength of Heat treated Al 6063

Alloy

Fig 2.Universal Testing Machine

HEAT TREATMENT PROCESS

Vs
HARDNESS

2.

M. Zehetbauer, W. Pfeiler, and J.Schrank (1983): Micro hardness

and Yield stress of Cold Rolled Pure Aluminum up To very High
Deformation. Scripta Metallurgica, Vol.17, pp 221-226, 1983.

3.

C .A. Mitchell and A. M. Davidson (2000): Effect of Al203

particulates as 651 reinforcement in age hardenable aluminum
alloy composites. Materials Science and Technology, 2000, 16
(07) 873 876.

4.

W.S. Lee, W. C. Sue, C.F. Lin and C. J. WU (1999): Effect of

aging on high strain rate and high temperature of 7075 aluminum
alloy. Materials Science and Technology, 1999, 151 (12) 1379 1386.

5.

McDowell, D. L. (2000). Modeling and experiments in

plastering. Solids and structures 371 (1 -2), Pg. 293 -309.

6.

Ming Dao and Ming Lie (2001): A micromechanics study on

strain-localization induced fracture initiation in bending using
crystal plasticity models. Philosophical Magazine A, 2001,
Vol.81, NO.8, 1997-2020.

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Annealing Normalizing Quenching Tempering

Chart 2. Comparison of Hardness of Heat treated Al 6063 Alloy

Quenched specimen has the highest Tensile

strength and Annealed specimen has the lowest
Tensile strength.

Quenched specimen has the highest Hardness

value and Tempered specimen has the lowest
Hardness value.

VII. CONCLUSIONS
1.

Tempered specimen has good Tensile strength and

poor hardness value.

2.

Normalized specimen has average Tensile strength

and Hardness value.

3.

Annealed specimen has poor tensile strength and

good Hardness value.

4.

Quenched specimen has better Tensile strength

and Hardness value.

Thus the Heat treatment process was carried out on

Aluminium 6063 Alloy and its mechanical properties were
investigated.
VIII. REFERENCES
1.

D.E.Esezobor, S. O. Adeosun: Improvement On The Strength Of

6063 Aluminum Alloy By Means Of Solution Heat Treatment.
Materials Science and Technology (MS&T) 2006.