Alloy Designation, Processing, and Use of AA6XXX Series Aluminium Alloys

Abstract

The strength-to-weight ratio offered by AA6XXX alloys and their enhanced mechanical properties have become crucial criteria for their use in light weight military vehicles, rockets, missiles, aircrafts, and cars, used for both defence and civil purpose. The focus of this review paper is to put together the latest knowledge available from various sources on alloy design, industrial processing, development of properties, and potential use of AA6XXX alloys. The direct chill (DC) cast AA6XXX wrought alloys which are subsequently processed by fabrication process like hot working, cold working, process annealing, and age hardening heat treatments are the foci of this review though designation section also contains the designations of cast alloys to provide the reader a broad overview on designation. World-wide accepted designations are briefly tabled along with their alloying elements. The effects of the alloying elements which are generally used for AA6XXX wrought alloys are discussed incorporating their interactions during wrought AA6XXX alloy fabrication. The significance of the alloying and also the processing to develop the certain properties and the underlying strengthening mechanisms are discussed. The frequent and versatile uses of these AA6XXX alloys for the structural applications both in defence and civil purpose are put forth.

Microstructural and Mechanical Characterization of Al-0.80Mg-0.85Si-0.3Zr Alloy

“…Thus, Al 3 Zr precipitates are thermally more stable than the conventional precipitates which provide precipitation hardening such as θ′-Al 2 Cu or β′-Mg 2 Si. All this information reveals why the phase transformation kinetic is slower in Zr-containing alloys [19][20][21][22].…”

Effect of Heat Treatment on Proportion of Duplex Fiber Texture of Aluminium Magnesium Silicon Alloy

“…The strength-to-weight ratio offered by AA6XXX alloys and their enhanced mechanical properties have become crucial criteria for their use in light weight military vehicles, rockets, missiles, aircrafts, and cars, used for both defence and civil purpose [1]. Heat treatment changes the microstructure and mechanical properties of material and it also contributes to important effects on evolution of re-crystallization and deformation textures.…”

Investigation of the nugget zone corrosion behavior in friction stir welded lap joints of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy

“…Additionally, due to the good corrosion resistance of AA6xxx, these alloys become susceptible to intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion cracking when the content of Cu and Si are increased. Indeed, the addition of Fe without a Fe corrector increases the pitting corrosion tendency 1 . The friction stir welding (FSW) process is an emerging "green" solid-state joining method where, in contrast to fusion welding, the material to be welded does not reach its melting point 2,3 .…”

“…Among the aluminum alloys, the AA6xxx wrought alloys have become significant due to their versatile application for armor structures, rockets, missile casings, lightweight defense vehicles, cars and marine structures because of their high strength to weight ratio, plasticity, formability and fairly good corrosion resistance. The AA6xxx alloy properties change based on the chemical composition and processing conditions, such as hot working, cold working, annealing, and the aging process 1 . The primary alloying elements, including Mg, Si, Cu, Fe and Mn, play an important role in AA6xxx alloy properties.…”