Effects of thermomechanical treatment on the mechanical properties and microstructures of 6013 alloy

Abstract

The mechanical properties and microstructures of 6013 alloy after different thermomechanical treatments were investigated. The detailed dislocation configurations after deformation and morphologies of age hardening precipitates were examined through transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results show that the thermomechanical treatment can significantly enhance the strength of 6013 alloy, and has a similar influence trend on single and two-step aging behaviors. With the increasing deformation ratio, the peak-hardness (HV_max) increases, the time to HV_max shortens, and the density of tangled dislocation network increases. The aging precipitates become larger and inhomogeneous by applying thernomechanical treatment.

Keywords

6013 alloy / thermomechanical treatment / aging / dislocation

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