"Uphill Quenching of Aluminum Alloys"

This paper provides a general overview of the uphill quenching process and its application for the heat treatment of aluminum alloys such as large aerospace components. This technique is often not well understood and there are relatively few publications about this. This process was originally developed by Alcoa approximately 50 years ago for aluminum alloys. It has also been referred to "deep freezing" or "tri-cycle stress relieving". Uphill quenching is interesting because residual stress reduction of 80% has been reported. In addition to a general overview of uphill quenching, a report on current work underway to re-examine this process under laboratory conditions. This discussion will include a laboratory system that has been recently constructed to provide necessary uphill quenching process conditions required to perform this study. This paper will provide a progress report of this project work, as quenching types comparative with uphill process from mechanical and corrosion tests results.