Materials Model Development for AA6061 Aluminum

Aluminum alloy 6061 (AA6061) is widely used in industry due to its excellent formability, corrosion resistance, weldability, and strong mechanical properties after heat treatment. AA6061 is hardened through precipitation of alloying elements that act as blockers to dislocation paths in the individual aluminum grains, increasing mechanical performance. During artificial aging, these nano-scale precipitates combine and form the main hardening phase, β’’. The general heat treatment procedure for AA6061 follows a solution treatment, quench, and a direct artificial aging. The focus of this work is to use data published in the public domain to develop a materials model for AA6061 which can predict the material response to heat treatment by modeling the kinetics of precipitation formation and coarsening. This work uses data from publications found in the public domain to develop the solution kinetics, artificial aging and coarsening kinetics, and resulting mechanical properties. Another publication was used to validate the developed DANTE model by comparing hardness predictions to hardness obtained in an actual component.