Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 1

of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

ABSTRACT
The present work investigates the effect of solutionizing on the mechanical properties
like hardness and microstructural evolution of an Al 6061 T6 alloy (Al-Mg-Si). The
alloy was solutionized at temperature above the solvus line. The properties of the
solutionized alloy are compared with that of T-6 tempered sample. Microstructure of
the solutionized alloy is compared with the microstructure of tempered alloy. The
microstructure of heat-treated sample is greatly influenced by the process by which it
has been brought to the room temperature and this current project is mainly concerned
about studying the microstructure of the rapid cooled, that is, the quenched specimen.
The mechanical properties such as strength etc are dependent on the grain size. The
sample with finer grain size has strength more than that of the sample with coarser
grain size. Hardness of the tempered sample and solutionized sample is also compared
to check whether the already tempered alloy hardens or softens after doing further heat
treatment upon it. And in this study, hardness is measured by using Rockwell hardness
testing machine.
Al 6061 T6 alloy is used in the construction of aircrafts, boats and war crafts because
of it’s high strength to weight ratio. Due to non-corrosive properties, it is used in
water, air and hydraulic piping and tubing. A comparison of microstructure and
hardness of Al 6061 T6 before and after solutionization is presented in this project
study.

Key words: Al6061 alloy; Quench; solutionize; T-6 Temper; fine grains; Rockwell
hardness; Microstructure.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 2
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the 6xxx aluminum alloys have attracted the attention of many
researchers, engineers, and designers. This range of aluminium alloys does not
promote the strength characteristics of either 2xxx or 7xxx series alloys; however, this
range is one of the most versatile heat-treatable aluminium’s and offers good corrosion
resistance and formability with medium strength, due to the inclusion of magnesium
and silicon.
Al-6061 is a precipitation-hardened aluminum alloy which contains magnesium and
silicon as its major alloying elements. It has good mechanical properties, exhibits good
weldability, and is commonly extruded. It is one of the most common alloys of
aluminum for general-purpose use. It is commonly available in pre-tempered grades
such as Al-6061, tempered grades such as Al-6061-T6 (solutionized and artificially
aged) and 6061-T651 (solutionized, stress-relieved stretched and artificially aged).
The aluminium 6061 is chemically composed of mainly silicon and magnesium but
there are several other elements presentl in the structure of aluminium 6061 alloy.
Silicon is present in the alloy and it is 0.4% to 0.81% by the weight of alloy, Iron is
present in 0% to 0.7% by weight, Copper is in 0.15% to 0.4% by weight, Manganese is
in 0% to 0.15% by weight, Magnesium is in 0.8% to 1.2% by weight, Chromium is in
0.04% to 0.35% by weight, Zinc is in 0% to 0.2% by weight, Titanium is in 0% to
0.15% by weight, and other elements are present in the alloy and they are not more
than 0.05% each and 0.15% total by weight. And the remaining is Aluminium and is in
95.85% to 98.56% by weight.
The normally found alloy of Aluminium, 6061-O is 6061 aluminum in the annealed
condition. It has the lowest strength compared to the other variants of 6061 aluminum.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 3
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

The process of taking a 6061 aluminum part in O condition to a stronger, more durable
condition begins by heat treating the parts at 985 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour in a
drop bottom furnace. At that point, the basket containing the samples is dropped into a
quench tank. The quench liquid circulates to cool the parts rapidly.

The key to this process is speed and even cooling; the samples are quenched within six
seconds of the drop bottom furnace door opening. With that process done, the
quenched aluminum sample is now in W condition. In this condition the material can
be formed or straightened. Because time and room-temperature air can also have a
hardening effect, setting these newly treated samples in the open on the workroom
floor for 96 hours will bring the parts to T4 hardness. The hardening process can be
stopped by placing aluminum samples in a freezer until they’re ready to be hit on the
press again. After this secondary pressing, the samples go through an aging heat
treatment process. Aging aluminum 6061 is done between 350 to 500 degrees
Fahrenheit, and depending on thickness and other factors the sample stays in the oven
for 12-24 hours. Following this aging, the samples are now at a T6 condition. In
general, T6 is the most common temper for aluminum, and because 6061 aluminum is
often used in heavy-duty structures, the strength and limited formability of metal at
that temper is important.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 4
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
In the present investigation, the materials tested were Aluminum 6061 alloy (in T6 and
solutionized condition) containing Mg and Si in the form of rod diameter D= 1 inch).
The chemical composition of this alloy is indicated in table 1. The original sample is as
shown in fig 1. The alloy was heated to 530°C in a muffle furnace and soaked in there for
one hour, after that quenched in regular water. The image of furnace is shown in fig 3.
Two samples were cut with the help of hacksaw in the dimension of (1x1x0.4cm) and
(1” dia x 2cm). Then smaller sample was mounted in resin for better handling as
shown in fig 2. After mounting the sample was rubbed against the grinding belt to
make a flat surface, then it was rubbed against emery sheets of different grades to
make a scratch less surface. Then the sample was polished in disk polishing wheel
using mixture of alumina powder and water, after polishing the sample was etched
with Keller’s reagent. The sample was inspected in optical microscope for grain
structures and grain boundaries, as shown in fig 5. The second (bigger) sample was
considered for the hardness test as shown in fig 4.

(fig1) Original sample of Al6060T6. (fig2) sample mounted in resin.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 5
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

(fig3) Furnace used for (fig 4a) sample while (fig 4b) sample after
heating the sample. Rockwell test. Rockwell test.

Table 1. Chemical composition of Al-Mg-Si alloy [in wt %]

Mg Si Fe Mn Cr zn Ti Al

0.86 0.48 0.46 0.09 0.04 0.005 0.01 96.05

The Rockwell hardness test was performed on this specimen (tempered and
solutionized) with a load of 100 Kg with a 1/16- inch hard steel ball on Rockwell B
scale to evaluate the hardness of the two specimens. The evaluation of microstructure
was performed under Optical microscope.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 6
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. ROCKWELL HARDNESS:
The Rockwell hardness test was performed on both tempered and solutionized
specimen with a load of 100 Kg with a 1/16- inch hard steel ball on Rockwell B
scale to evaluate the hardness. Three set of values were found out for both samples
before and after solutionization, and the average value was obtained as the
hardness value for the specimen.

Table 3. Rockwell Hardness readings for two specimens

Sample Reading 1 Reading 2 Reading 3 Average

Sample A 65 66 65 65.3HRB
(Al6061T6)
Sample B 51 51 56 52.6HRB
(solutionized
Al6061T6)

2. MICROSTRUCTURE:
The two specimen was examined under inverted optical microscope. The tempered
and solutionized specimens are prepared metallographically polished by using
emery papers 4/0, 3/0, 2/0, 1/0 respectively and followed by disc polishing with
diamond alumina abrasive. The polished samples were etched with Kellers reagent
as etchant (95ml distilled water + 2.5ml nitric acid +1.5ml HCL + 1ml HFL). The
prepared sample was examined under optical microscope with magnification 50X,
100X, 200X and 400X.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 7
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

The microstructures of the samples are given below fig 5.

(a) Grain structure of Al6061T6 at (b) Grain structure of solutionized

50X magnification. Al6061T6 at 50X magnification.

(c) Grain structure of Al6061T6 at (d) Grain structure of solutionized

100X magnification. Al6061T6 at 100X magnification.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 8
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

(e) Grain structure of Al6061T6 at (f) Grain structure of solutionized

200X magnification. Al6061T6 at 200X magnification.

(g) Grain structure of Al6061T6 at (h) Grain structure of solutionized

400X magnification. Al6061T6 at 400X magnification.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 9
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

CONCLUSION

Aluminium 6061 T6 was solutionized to reduce the tempering effect. Solutionizing

increased the size of the microstructure as we can see from the above image. Over
heating should be prevented because it will raise the temperature above the eutectic
point causing localized meting and reduction in material property values, whereas
under heating may not lead all of the solutes grow into the solid solution leaving fewer
precipitates for further heat treatment. Microstructure was obtained with the help of
Inverted Optical Microscope for both Al 6061 T6 and solutionized Al 6061 T6.

By solutionizing and quenching we are retaining high temperature phase at lower

temperature, which leads to formation of super saturated solution. We ended the
operation there only, thus hardening is only because of solid solution strengthening.

By Rockwell test we found that hardness of specimen decreased after solutionizing.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT

Comparative study of microstructure and mechanical properties 10
of Al6061 T6 aluminium alloy.

REFERENCE
1. J. Ridhwan, J.A. Noor, M.S. Zakaria, “Effect of heat treatment on microstructure
and mechanical properties of 6061 aluminium alloy”, vol 5, No.1, 2014.
2. S.K. Panigrahi and R. Jayaganthan, “A study on the mechanical properties of
cryorolled Al-Mg-Si alloy,” Mater. Sci. Eng. A., vol. 480, pp. 299.
3. ASM Metals Reference Book, 3rd edition, ASM International, Materials Park , p.
403, 2004.
4. V.L. Niranjani, K.C.H. Kumar and V.S. Sarma, “Development of high strength Al-
Mg-Si AA6061 alloy,” Mater. Sci. Eng. A., vol. 515, pp.169-174, 2009.

Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering NITT