Study on Influence of Heat Treatment on Mechanical Properties and Machinability during CNC Turning of AA6061 Alloy

Abstract

The present work identifies the effect of heat treatment processes on the mechanical properties and machinability of 6061 Al alloy. The heat treatment processes involved are solution heat treatment and precipitation hardening. Aging at 175°C for different times affected the surface roughness of workpieces considerably. Test pieces aged at 6 h and 8 h exhibited lower surface roughness values and this is due to their higher hardness values. Chip morphology was also studied using tool maker's microscope and similar observations were made. For samples aged for 6 h and 8 h, along the width of the chip, the edges were discontinuous, indicating poor ductile behaviour of the samples and this is due to their high hardness values.