Aluminium Precipitation Preparation

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Abstract
The main objective for this experiment is to perform the heat treatment process and the precipitate hardening process at different temperatures for the aluminium specimens provided.
The temperature at which and Al-Cu alloy is tempered at can affect its properties. The process which strengthens the alloy is known as precipitation hardening or age hardening.
Basic metallographic techniques and mechanical testing will be performed on the specimens to further understand the properties of aluminium at different solid phase. Experiment results will be further discussed and concluded.

Introduction
Aluminium have lower tensile properties as compared to steel, however their specific strength is excellent. Aluminium can be formed …show more content…

The process consists of soaking the alloy at a temperature sufficiently high and for a time long enough to achieve a nearly homogeneous solid solution.
Quenching
Quenching is one of the most critical steps in the sequence of heat-treating operations. The objective of quenching is to preserve the solid solution formed at the solution heat-treating temperature, by rapidly cooling to some lower temperature, usually near room temperature. Rapid cooling by quenching after the solid solution is formed should produce supersaturated solution at room temperature which is the best condition for precipitation hardening.
Precipitation hardening
Done after solution treatment and quenching hardening is done either at natural aging or with artificial aging. It relies on changes in solid solubility where it is being heated below the solvus temperature to produce a fine dispersed precipitate since dislocations are often the dominant carriers of plasticity, this serves to harden the material. Unlike ordinary tempering, alloys must be kept at elevated temperature for hours to allow precipitation to take place. This time delay is called aging.

Experimental

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