Effect of heat treatment hardness of Al-Cu-Mg-Li-Zr, Al-Mg-Si and and Al-Mg-Zn alloys- experimental correlation using factorial DOE and ANOVA methods

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of heat treatment on the aging and mechanical behavior of Al-Cu-Mg-Li-Zr, Al-Mg-Si and and Al-Mg-Zn alloys (8090, 6082 and 7075). The effect of cold work after solution treatment, aging parameters (time and temperature) on the microstructure and mechanical properties were studied. Attempts are made to determine the combined effect of cold work and aging treatment on the hardness, UTS and microstructure for these alloys. By study the impact of different heat treatments for Al-Mg-Si alloys (6082), Al-Cu-Mg-Li-Zr (8090) and Al-Mg-Zn (7075) aluminum alloys on the hardness and mechanical properties, it is possible to determine conditions necessary to achieve better mechanical properties and the maximum levels of hardness and values corresponding to those considered suitable for commercial applications of these alloys. Design of Experiment (DOE) method in Minitab is used to measure the impact of various factors and how they relate. Correlation between the hardness and different metallurgical factors for these alloys at both quantitative and qualitative are investigated and analysed. A statistical design of experiments (DOE) approach using fractional factorial design was applied to determine the influence of controlling variables of cold work and heat treatment parameters and any interactions between them on the hardness of the above alloys. A mathematical model is developed to relate the alloy hardness with the different metallurgical parameters to acquire an understanding of the effects of these variables and their interactions on the hardness of wrought Al-alloys. It is noticed that cold work, following solution treatment, accelerates the precipitation rate leading to a rise in strength.