Precipitation, strength and work hardening of age hardened aluminium alloys

The strength and work hardening of age hardened AA6063 and AA6082 alloys have been investigated in terms of a detailed characterization of precipitate and dislocation structures obtained by TEM and SEM. Tensile and compression tests were performed at as quenched, peak aged and severely aged conditions. A strong work hardening in the as quenched condition was found, similar to AlMg alloys with twice as much alloying elements in solid solution. It was found that the initial work hardening rate and the critical failure strain are both smallest at the peak aged condition. During large deformations the needle-shaped precipitates are sheared uniformly by dislocations altering their <001> orientations, which indicates extensive cross slip. In the overaged condition the early initial work hardening is larger than at the peak aged condition, but followed by a weak linear work hardening, apparently directly entering stage IV at a low strain. Cracked, needle-shaped precipitates were seen at larger strains.