Background

Recently, heavy emphasis has been put on weight reduction in the automotive and aircraft industries. By reducing weight, pollution and fuel costs can be cut down. In order to reduce vehicle weight, many manufacturers have started to use aluminum alloys for their parts, as many contain high ductility, low density, high corrosion resistance, weld ability and can be heat treated.

Of these alloys, one which is starting to gain popularity is Al 6013. Al 6013 is comprised of aluminum, magnesium, silicon, and copper. Other related alloys contain different copper amounts if any copper at all, but the addition of copper in the alloy increases the material's strength without effecting its ductility or weld ability significantly. Al 6013 may also contain trace amounts of manganese, iron, zinc, titanium, chromium, and a few other elements. Al 6013 in particular has shown excellent resistance to corrosion and stress corrosion cracking, while having better deformation characteristics than other aerospace aluminum alloys.

The following is a list of some Al 6013's basic properties:
-Density: 2.71 g / cc
-Thermal Conductivity: 164 W/(m*K)
-Tensile Yield Strength: 359 MPa
-Rockwell B Hardness: 60

To achieve better deformation process results, the material is usually heat treated to a standard temper, in our experiment we heated our samples to T4 and T6 tempers. Following is a list of aluminum temper standards:

T1: cooled from a high temperature process and naturally aged to a stable condition, and often associated with extruded parts from the 6xxx series.

T2: cooled from a high temperature process, cold worked, and naturally aged to a stable condition, often associated with cast products.

T3: solution heat-treated, cold worked, and naturally aged to a stable condition. Same as T4 + cold work.

T4: solution heat-treated, naturally aged to a stable condition.

T5: cooled from a high temperature process and artificially aged, and often associated with extruded parts from the 6xxx series. Same as T1+artificial age.

T6: solution heat-treated, and artificially aged. Same as T4 + artificial age.

T7: solution heat-treated, and overaged/stabilized.

T8: solution heat-treated, cold worked, and artificially aged. Same as T3 + artificial age.

These heat treating, cooling and aging processes help the alloy achieve higher, more desirable material properties, namely strength for Al 6013. This is one of the main reasons for conducting our experiment.