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Effects of annealing temperature on the mechanical properties and

sensitization of 5083-H116 aluminum alloy

Article in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part L Journal of Materials Design and Applications · January 2013
DOI: 10.1177/1464420713512249

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Case Study

Proc IMechE Part L:

J Materials: Design and Applications
Effects of annealing temperature 2015, Vol. 229(4) 339–346
! IMechE 2013
on the mechanical properties Reprints and permissions:
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and sensitization of 5083-H116 DOI: 10.1177/1464420713512249

pil.sagepub.com

aluminum alloy

Ren-Yu Chen1, Hsiao-Yeh Chu2, Cheng-Chyuan Lai3 and

Chih-Ting Wu4

Abstract
This study elucidates how annealing temperature affects the mechanical properties and sensitization of 5083-H116
aluminum alloys. Nitric Acid Mass Loss Test was conducted to investigate the sensitization behavior of the annealed
specimens. The results indicated that the mechanical properties were more sensitive to the annealing temperature than
to the annealing time. The mechanical properties of the alloys became rapidly worse upon annealing between 250 and
350  C. 5083-H116 aluminum alloy became sensitized and susceptible to intergranular corrosion at an annealing tem-
perature of 175  C for 48 h. The distribution and shapes of b-phase particles markedly affected the sensitization.
Exposing at the temperatures of 230–250  C for 10–30 min could effectively improve the sensitization of the
5083-H116 alloys.

Keywords
5083-H116, sensitization, b-phase, intergranular corrosion, Nitric Acid Mass Loss Test

Date received: 2 February 2013; accepted: 4 October 2013

As displayed in Figure 1,8 marine alloys such as

Introduction
5xxx Al-Mg alloys, such as 5083, are medium-
strength, non-heat treatable wrought aluminum
alloys. They have been widely used in marine struc-
tures owing to their light weight, weldability, and
favorable corrosion resistance. These Al-Mg alloys,
which exhibit a range of useful material properties,
are highly desired for being used in fast sea transpor-
tation for commercial and military applications. Since
the 1950s, U.S. Navy has preferred to use magnesium-
strengthened 5xxx alloys, which are also favored for
use in new high performance vessels.1,2 It is well
known that the strength of Al-Mg alloys increases
with increasing Mg content, but raising temperature
during the annealing process lowers the strength of
Al-Mg alloys.3 In addition, although increasing Mg
content can enhance strength, it may be accompanied
by a decrease in corrosion resistance.4
5xxx Al-Mg alloys that contain more than 3 wt.%
Mg are supersaturated at room temperature.
The excess Mg solute atoms tend to precipitate out
as b-phase (Mg2Al3) particles, distributed along the
grain boundaries during prolonged aging at room
temperature, or after shorter periods of exposure
at slightly elevated temperatures (65–200  C).5–7
5086 (3.5–4.5 Mg), 5083 (4.0–4.9 Mg), and 5456
(4.7–5.5 Mg) become sensitized, and thus susceptible
to corrosion, upon exposure to temperatures in the
range that is indicated by the hashed area (in the
a þ b phase field). Since the b-phase is electrochem-
ically more active than the Al-matrix, plates destabil-
ize over time and are susceptible to exfoliation,
intergranular corrosion (IGC), and stress corrosion
cracking (SCC) in stress and corrosive environ-
ments.4,9 Such phenomena are normally referred to
as ‘‘sensitization,’’10 especially in the heat-affected
zone (HAZ) of a weld or in deck and superstructure
1
School of Defense Science, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology,
National Defense University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kun Shan University, Tainan,
Taiwan
3
Department of Mechatronic, Energy and Aerospace Engineering,
Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University,
Taoyuan, Taiwan
4
Army Academy R.O.C., Taoyuan, Taiwan
Corresponding author:
Hsiao-Yeh Chu, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kun Shan
University, Tainan 71003, Taiwan.
Email: hsiaoyeh@mail.ksu.edu.tw
340
Figure 1. Phase diagram of the Al-Mg binary system8 with the composition of marine alloys sensitization region indicated.
applications involving severe solar radiation. This is
an insidious problem of 5xxx Al-Mg alloys that is
caused by the gradual formation and growth of the
b-phase at grain boundaries. It has long been well
known that the mechanical properties, including the
corrosion behavior, of most engineering materials can
be modified effectively by altering their microstruc-
tures using various heat treatments. Several studies
have attempted to sensitize 5xxx series aluminum
alloys by IGC and SCC, in which the critical sensitiz-
ing temperature of these alloys were approximately
175  C.11–16 However, these studies have focused on
local temperature sensitization (100–200  C) and most
did not achieve a significant improvement. According
to the phase field boundaries around the Al-rich
corner of the Al-Mg binary phase diagram (see
Figure 1), b-phase precipitation can be eliminated
by annealing the alloys at elevated temperatures
exceeding the solubility limit of Mg in aluminum,
for instance, the optimal stabilization temperature of
the 5083-H116 alloys was around 240  C. According
to the diagram, the equilibrium state of the alloy is
single-phase a. The continuity of the second-phase b
precipitant networks is expected to be gradually elimi-
nated by the diffusion of Mg atoms into the a-matrix,
changing the sensitized microstructure and its proper-
ties. However, the annealing temperature and time
must be controlled in the recovery stage to prevent
softening of the plate.
In present work, the effects of annealing on the
mechanical and sensitization properties of a 5083-
H116 aluminum alloy are examined, and a stabilizing
heat treatment is applied to restore corrosion
Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 229(4)
resistance of these highly sensitized specimens.
The ultimate purpose of this research is to improve
the sensitization properties of 5xxx Al-Mg alloys,
thereby extending their service life.
Experimental procedures
A commercial 5083-H116 aluminum alloy plate with
6 mm in thickness was utilized in the present study.
The detailed chemical composition of this alloy
is Al-4.51 Mg-0.54Mn-0.07Cr-0.29Fe-0.11Si-0.05Cu-
0.01Ti-0.12Zn-0.07Zr (wt.%). Annealing was set at
the temperatures of 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350,
400, 450, 500, and 550  C. Each specimen was held
for 30 min during annealing before quenching
in room temperature water. Tensile tests using a
25-mm gauge length and a 6-mm gauge diameter
were performed according to the ASTM B557 with
an initial strain rate of 0.003 s1.17 A Vickers test
for microhardness with a load of 150 g for 15 s was
adopted to measure the hardness of the experimental
specimens.
Nitric Acid Mass Loss Test (NAMLT) was con-
ducted to investigate the sensitization behavior of
the annealed specimens. The time of NAMLT was
30 min, 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h, in compliance with the
ASTM G67 procedure.18 Additionally, the sensitiza-
tion reversing properties with different sensitive struc-
tures were investigated, in which the sensitized
specimens were denoted as S1 (recovery plate
annealed at 175  C for 48 h) and S2 (recrystallization
plate annealed at 450  C for 30 min and then sensi-
tized at 175  C for 48 h). According to those results,
Chen et al.
Figure 2. Plot of tensile properties versus annealing temperatures.
Figure 3. Plot of Vickers hardness versus annealing temperatures.
holding sensitized specimens (S1 and S2) at a heat
treatment temperature of 240  C for 10, 30, 60, and
120 min restored their corrosion resistances, as
demonstrated by their compliance with the NAMLT
requirements set by ASTM B928 (<15 mg/cm2).10
The microstructure was examined by optical metal-
lography. Specimens for metallographic characteriza-
tion were prepared by electrochemical polishing and
etched using Barker’s solution. To determine the
extent and distribution of the b-phase precipitates,
sensitized specimens were prepared by mechanical
polishing and etching with a 5% hydrofluoric acid
solution.
341
Results and discussion
Mechanical properties
The mechanical properties of the annealed 5083-H116
alloy are closely related to the characteristics of
deformed microstructures. Figure 2 shows that
annealing below 200  C slightly reduces the ultimate
tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) and
increases the uniform elongation. Between 200 and
250  C, the uniform elongation increases markedly
from 18% to 19%, reflecting the microstructural
changes at 200  C, which is attributed to a slight
342 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 229(4)

Figure 4. The microstructure of a 5083-H116 alloy at various annealing temperatures for 30 min: (a) as-received, (b) 250  C, and
(c) 350  C.

Figure 5. NAMLT results of the 5083-H116 alloy annealed at various annealing temperatures.

change in the dimension of dislocation substructures
and the rearrangement of dislocations. The tensile
properties change substantially between 250 and
350  C, a rapid drop in UTS and YS occurs because
of recrystallization. A steady value of UTS and YS
can be obtained between 350 and 550  C, mainly
because the formation of a recrystallized structure.
Figure 3 presents the results of the hardness test of
the annealed samples. The results of the hardness test
exhibits the same trend as those of the tensile test in
Figure 2. Hardness declines as the temperature and
time increase. These curves demonstrate that
annealing between 100 and 250  C slightly reduces
hardness throughout the recovery process.
Significant changes in hardness caused by recrystal-
lization occur between 250 and 350  C and are deter-
mined by the annealing temperature and time.
Accordingly, the basic softening process is limited to
the temperature range of 250–350  C. The similar
hardness values that are obtained upon annealing
between 350 and 550  C indicate that the coarsening
of recrystallized grains only weakly influences hard-
ness. Therefore, the hardness of the annealed samples
is clearly dominated by the fraction of recrystallized
Chen et al.
Figure 6. Microstructures of 5083-H116 specimens: (a) annealed at 450  C for 48 h, (b) annealed at 175  C for 48 h, and (c) annealed
at 450  C for 30 min and then sensitized at 175  C for 48 h; (d) to (f), respectively, represent the (a) to (c) samples after immersed in
HNO3 for 24 h.
grains rather than the rate of coarsening thereof
recrystallized grains. Consequently, the effective
range of temperatures for stabilization is between
200 and 250  C.
Figure 4 plots the effect of annealing temperature
on the microstructural evolution during 30 min of iso-
chronical annealing at temperatures of 25–550  C.
There is no observable change in the microstructure
with elongated fibrous grains parallel to the direction
of rolling when the annealing temperature below
200  C (Figure 4(a)). This result is expected since
boundary mobility is very low at these temperatures.
For the same reason, alloys retain their fibrous micro-
structure morphology following annealing at the
slightly higher temperature of 250  C. However, at
that temperature, some fibrous grains are thickened
laterally to a greater extent than those annealed at
200  C (Figure 4(b)). Notably, the results of the tensile
and microhardness tests of the samples annealed at
100–550  C (Figures 2 and 3) reveal that their
343
mechanical properties begin to change around
250  C. This phenomenon is consistent with the
microstructure in Figure 4(b), which verifies the
occurrence of the recovery at this temperature.19
Annealing at a temperature of over 350  C yields
recrystallized coarse structures (Figure 4(c)). The
high uniform elongation of materials annealed at
350–550  C is evidently attributable to an increase in
the amount of recrystallized and/or coarsened grains.
Corrosion resistance in HNO3
Figure 5 summarizes the results of the NAMLT test
conducted on the 5083-H116 alloy following anneal-
ing treatments for 48 h. The weight loss of samples
annealed at temperatures ranging 100–200  C are on
average greater than that of the other samples, reveal-
ing that the sensitizing range of 5083-H116 alloys is
between 100 and 200  C, around a maximum at
175  C. However, samples annealed above 200  C
344 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 229(4)

Figure 7. NAMLT test results of the sensitized samples as a function of exposure time at 240  C.

Figure 8. Microstructure with the sensitized plates following brief exposure at 240  C: (a) S1 specimens heat-treated for 10 min,
showing semi-continuous network of grain boundary; (b) S2 specimens heat-treated for 10 min, showing semi-continuous network of
grain boundary; and (c) S1 and S2 specimens heat-treated for 30 min, showing discontinuous network of grain boundary.

yield the greatest resistance to IGC owing to dissol-
ution of the b-phase in a solid solution.
Metallographic examination of the annealed sam-
ples reveals that outside the sensitizing range, the micro-
structure remains unchanged and consists of uniformly
dispersed b-phase precipitates (Figure 6(a)).
However, samples for either the recovered structure
(S1 sample: annealed at 175  C for 48 h) or recrystal-
lized structure (S2 sample: annealed at 450  C for
30 min and then sensitized at 175  C for 48 h) indicate
that b-phase tends to precipitate along the grain bound-
aries under the sensitizing range (Figure 6(b) and 6(c)).
Chen et al.
Figure 6(d) to 6(f) present the metallographs of samples
in Figure 6(a) to 6(c), respectively, following their
immersion in HNO3 for 24 h. Figure 6(d) shows that
the edge of the sample was smooth without any evi-
dence of IGC. However, according to Figure 6(e) and
6(f), both the edges subjected to intergranular attacks
along the network of the grain boundaries at which
precipitation occurred and the shapes of edges formed
by corrosion were determined by their grain configur-
ations. Based on the above results, IGC depends not
only on the presence of b-phase particles but also
strongly on their morphologies and distribution in the
microstructure.
Reversing sensitization properties
After annealing at 240  C for over 30 min, both recov-
ered (S1: recovery plate annealed at 175  C for 48 h)
and recrystallized (S2: recrystallization plate annealed
at 450  C for 30 min and then sensitized at 175  C for
48 h) specimens are restored almost to the full corro-
sion resistance of the fresh plates, as indicated by the
NAMLT results (Figure 7).
Optical metallography verifies that stabilization
treatment produces a discontinuous or semi-continu-
ous network of precipitates at grain boundaries, as
expected from the NAMLT results. Figure 6(b) and
(c) presents the evidently continuous networks that
are formed by the b precipitation in the plates.
Following brief exposure (10–30 min) at 240  C, the
b-phase particle precipitated along the grain bound-
aries with either the recovery or the recrystallization
structure merge with a solution (Figure 8(a) and 8(b)).
The sensitized specimens finally reverted back to a
state with a low NAMLT test value approaching
those of fresh plates upon exposure for more than
30 min (Figure 8(c)).
Conclusions
This study elucidates how annealing temperature
affects the mechanical properties and sensitization of
5083-H116 aluminum alloys. The following conclu-
sions are drawn from the above analysis.
1. The mechanical properties of 5083-H116 alloys
that are annealed at temperatures below 250  C
only have a slight change, but mechanical proper-
ties become rapidly worse upon annealing between
250 and 350  C.
2. The mechanical properties of 5083-H116 alloy are
more sensitive to the annealing temperature than
to the annealing time.
3. Being annealed in the sensitization range at an
annealing temperature of 175  C for 48 h, the
alloy becomes sensitized and susceptible to IGC.
The distribution and shapes of b-phase particles
markedly affect the sensitization.
345
4. Exposing at the temperatures of 230–250  C for
10–30 min can effectively improve the sensitization
of the 5083-H116 alloys.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Science Council
of the Republic of China under the grants of NSC101-2221-
E168-015.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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