Material Evolution of Heat-Treated Aluminum Alloy 6101 Quenched in Different Media

¹ Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, 360101, Nigeria
² Pan African University of Life and Earth Sciences (including Health and Agriculture), Ibadan, Nigeria.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Butterworth Campus, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa

^* Corresponding author: author@e-mail.org

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the changing characteristics of Heat-Treated Aluminum Alloy 6101 quenched in various media. The research methodology of this research includes performing heat treatment on the Aluminum Alloy 6101 samples at various temperatures, specifically 250℃, 350℃ and 450℃ as well as carrying out quenching processes of the samples using Brine and Water as the main quenchants, and then allowing some samples to cool in the furnace and the rest to be normalized in air, after which mechanical tests (hardness and impact test) will then be carried out on the samples, followed by the microstructural analysis of the alloy. The study concluded that Aluminum Alloy 6101 should be heated to 250°C to achieve the greatest positive effect on its hardness properties, and the air was found to be the best cooling medium. It was also established that Brine Solution used as a quenching media has no significant effect on the hardness property of Aluminum Alloy 6101. Furthermore, the findings revealed that 350°C is the best temperature for increasing the Impact Absorbed Energy (IE) and Impact Strength (IS) of Aluminum Alloy 6101, and that cooling in the furnace also increases the IE and IS.