Hardness improvement of aluminum alloy 2024 t3 after artificial aging treatment

Abstract

The needs of having strong and light material for many construction is increasing. Aluminum is one of materials that fulfill this requirement with other advantages such as corrosion resistant and easily formed. Generally, hardness of aluminum and its alloys is lower than ferrous metal such as iron and steel. Aluminum hardness improvement can be conducted by heat treatment namely artificial aging. Artificial aging in aluminum alloy type 2024 T3 in this study was conducted in 2 phases that is solution treatment in 500 °C for 1 hour and continued with artificial aging process in 180 °C by holding time 2, 4 and 6 hours. From the conducted research, it was found that there was hardness improvement on aluminum type 2024 T3 in line with the increasing of aging time. The gained microstructure was getting smooth which means the precipitation hardening process was getting perfect.