Aluminum Alloys, Processing and Characterization: Processing Innovation, New Applications and Products
Sponsored by: TMS Light Metals Division, TMS: Aluminum Committee
Program Organizers: Dimitry Sediako, University of British Columbia

Wednesday 2:00 PM
March 17, 2021
Room: RM 27
Location: TMS2021 Virtual

Session Chair: Xiaochun Li, University of California, Los Angeles

2:00 PM
Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion of Aluminum Alloy 7075 Tubing at High Speed: Scott Whalen¹; Md. Reza-E-Rabby¹; Tianhao Wang¹; Xiaolong Ma¹; Timothy Roosendaal¹; Darrell Herling¹; Nicole Overman¹; Brandon Taysom¹; ¹Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
    Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE) was used to fabricate AA7075 tubing having an outer diameter of 12 mm and wall thickness of 1 mm. Extrusion speeds above 7 meters/min were achieved without surface cracking or tearing, compared to 1-2 meters/min that is typical of conventional extrusion of AA7075. This high rate is enabled by the unique thermomechanical conditions intrinsic to the ShAPE extrusion process. The effects of extrusion speed, die temperature, and post-extrusion heat treatment on mechanical properties will be reported. Results are presented primarily for extrusions made from billets machined out of homogenized castings; however, some data will also be presented for extrusions made from un-homogenized castings.

2:20 PM
Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion of Thin-walled AA 6063 Tubing: Brandon Taysom¹; Scott Whalen¹; MD Reza-E-Rabby¹; Tim Skszek²; Massimo DiCiano²; ¹Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; ²Magna International
    Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE) was used to fabricate thin-walled AA6063 tubing with improved mechanical properties compared to conventional extrusion. Namely, tensile properties for ShAPE extrusions after T5 heat treating far exceed conventional T5 properties and are on par with T6 tensile properties. Die rotational speed did not affect tensile properties, although increased extrusion speed did lead to moderate increases in elongation.

2:40 PM
Influence of the Quench Rate and Trace Elements on 6XXX Alloys: Alexander Wimmer¹; Annika Haemmerle¹; ¹Neuman Aluminium
    6XXX alloys (AlMgSi) are of great importance for the automotive industry and lightweight design. Currently, more than 100 different compositions (different lev-els of alloying elements, different magnesium:silicon ratios, trace elements,…) of the alloy 6082 are known, showing big differences in mechanical and corrosion properties. Especially high-alloyed 6082, 6061 and 6066 have a significant quench and corrosion susceptibility. In this study, quench rates between 1 and 200 °C/s were applied to study the effect on mechanical and corrosion properties. Different magnesium and silicon levels were analyzed as a function of quench rate and aging parameters. It has been found, that in most cases a higher strength can be achieved with a hot quench medium. Possible explanations are the lower viscosity with a better heat transfer coefficient, furthermore a hot quench medium could act as a preaging heat treatment.

3:00 PM
The Combined Method for Producing Long Products from Aluminium and Aluminium Alloys: Alexander Salnikov¹; Christoph Heinzel¹; ¹RUSAL ETC
    This paper deals with a technology for producing long products from aluminium and aluminium alloys by combined «rolling-extrussiong» method. Compared to conventional methods (rolling and extrusion), the combined method combines both processes, witch simultaneously occur in one deformation zone. This technology considerably reduces the footprint of equipment, ensures a rather high quality, and allows manufacturing products from a large number of alluminium alloys. This paper provides process diagrams, as well as the results of manufacturing long products from 1000, 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 series alloys.

3:20 PM
Effect of Extrusion Process on Mechanical, Welding and Corrosion Behaviour of 6XXX Series of Aluminium Alloys: Mehmet Bugra Guner¹; Murat Konar¹; Görkem Özçelik¹; Tolga Demirkıran¹; ¹Asas Aluminium
    Extrusion is a solid state metal forming process that utilizes heat and excessive deformation to shape constant cross sectional materials. In this forming mechanism microstructure evolves to variants of fibrous and equiaxed grains with the effects of deformation and recrystallization mechanisms. Besides mechanical properties, welding capabilities and corrosion resistance of 6XXX series of aluminium alloys also affected from extrusion process. In this study, changes on microstructure and mechanical properties that trigerred from extrusion process parameters were investigated to gain knowledge about welding and corrosion behaviour for 6XXX series aluminium alloys.

3:40 PM
TIG Welding of Dissimilar High-Strength Aluminum Alloys 6061 and 7075 with Nano-treated Filler Wires: Narayanan Murali¹; Xiaochun Li¹; ¹UCLA Department of Materials Science and Engineering
    Arc welding of dissimilar high-strength aluminum alloys is a major challenge in the automotive and aerospace industries due to differences in intrinsic material parameters and compositions. However, successful joining can lead to desirable combinations of material properties. To solve this problem, nanoparticles were loaded into AA6061 and AA7075 filler wires to fabricate nano-treated fillers, which were used to successfully weld AA6061 and AA7075. Neither weldment exhibited defects such as hot tearing or crater cracking, and both weld metals were observed to contain equiaxial grains smaller than 30 µm. The principal mechanisms behind the observed microstructures originate from nanoparticle interactions during the welding process, as they affect the solidification behavior of the weld metal and modify eutectic secondary phases that traditionally lead to dendritic grain morphologies. The promising results of these dissimilar high-strength aluminum alloy welds show nano-treated fillers have much potential in welding systems that are traditionally difficult to weld.

4:00 PM Question and Answer Period