Purpose of ageing in aluminium alloy ageing furnaces


Time:2023-10-20

Source: reticulation

Aluminium Ageing Furnace Ageing process is a heat treatment process in which alloy workpieces are subjected to solution treatment, cold plastic deformation or casting, forging, and placement at high or room temperature to maintain their properties, shape and dimensions. Over time. Heating the workpiece to a high temperature and aging it for a short period of time is called artificial aging treatment, and when it is placed at room temperature or stored for a long period of time under natural conditions, this aging phenomenon is called natural aging treatment. The purpose of aging treatment is to eliminate internal stresses in the workpiece, stabilise the organisation and dimensions and enhance the mechanical properties.

It was found that due to the ageing of aluminium, the alloy was not very hard after quenching, but the hardness increased significantly after a certain period of time at room temperature. This phenomenon came to be known as precipitation hardening. This discovery aroused great interest in the engineering community. Subsequently, aluminium alloys, copper alloys, and iron-based alloys that could be strengthened by ageing treatments were discovered, giving birth to a new method of strengthening that was fundamentally different from the usual quenching and ageing strengthening of steel. Curing is done prior to ageing. The solution process requires tight control of the heating temperature in order to limit the solute atoms to dissolve in the solid solution without melting the alloy. The heating temperature tolerance for many aluminium alloy solid solution treatments is only about 5°C. Artificial ageing treatments require tightly controlled heating temperatures and holding times to obtain the desired strengthening effect. Gradual ageing can be used for fabrication. That is, holding at room temperature or slightly above room temperature for a period of time, followed by a period of time at a higher temperature. This may produce better results.

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