Annealing Process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016186301-A1
Application number	US-201414910269-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 21, 2014
Priority date	Aug 21, 2013
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An annealing process for treatment of an aluminum alloy of AA5XXX series which comprises steps of annealing the aluminum alloy at a first temperature of from about 350° C. to about 450° C. by a rate of temperature increase from about 0.1° C./s to about 0.5° C./s; and cooling down the annealed aluminum alloy to a temperature below 50° C. Aluminum alloys of the AA5XXX series treated by the annealing process of the present invention are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An annealing process for treatment of an aluminum alloy of AA5XXX series, comprising steps of:
heating the aluminum alloy to a temperature of from about 350° C. to about 450° C. at a rate of temperature increase from about 0.1° C./s to about 0.5° C./s; and cooling the heated aluminum alloy to a temperature below about 50° C.

2 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy is heated to a temperature is from about 370° C. to about 430° C., or from about 380° C. to about 420° C.

3 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy is heated to a temperature is from about 380° C. to about 420° C.

4 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein the rate of temperature increase is from about 0.15° C./s to about 0.45° C./s.

5 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein the rate of temperature increase is from about 0.2° C./s to about 0.4° C./s.

6 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein the rate of temperature increase is from about 0.25° C./s to about 0.35° C./s.

7 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein the cooling step has a cooling rate of from about 10 to about 30° C. per minute, or from about 15° C. to about 25° C. per minute, or from about 18° C. to about 22° C. per minute.

8 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein aluminum alloy has an amount of magnesium in a range of from about 3.0 wt. % to about 10 wt. %, or from about 4.0 wt. % to about 9.5 wt. %, or from about 5.0 wt. % to about 9.0 wt. %, or from about 6.0 wt. % to about 8.5 wt. %.

9 . The annealing process of claim 1 , wherein aluminum alloy has an amount of element selected from the group consisting of copper, chrome, manganese, zinc, zirconium, beryllium, and scandium.

10 . The annealing process of claim 1 , further comprising a sensitizing step carried out prior to the heating step, wherein the sensitizing step is performed by heating the aluminum alloy to a temperature of from about 200° C. to about 350° C.

11 . The annealing process of claim 10 , wherein the sensitizing step comprises:
heating the aluminum alloy to a temperature of from about 200° C. to about 350° C. at a rate of temperature increase of from about 0.1° C./s to about 0.5° C./s; maintaining the aluminum alloy at the temperature for a time period of from about 1 minute to about 10 minutes; and cooling the aluminum alloy to a temperature below about 50° C.

12 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein the temperature of the sensitizing step is from about 250° C. to about 325° C.

13 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein the temperature of the sensitizing step is from about 270° C. to about 310° C.

14 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein the rate of temperature increase in the sensitizing step is from about 0.15° C./s to about 0.45° C./s.

15 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein the rate of temperature increase in the sensitizing step is from about 0.2° C./s to about 0.4° C./s.

16 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein the rate of temperature increase in the sensitizing step is from about 0.25° C./s to about 0.35° C./s.

17 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein the rate of temperature increase in the sensitizing step is from about 0.29° C./s to about 0.32° C./s

18 . The annealing process of claim 11 , wherein at the end of the sensitizing step, the alloy is maintained at or near the maximum temperature of the sensitizing step for from about 2 minutes to about 8 minutes, or from about 3 minutes to about 7 minutes, or from about 4 minutes to about 6 minutes.

19 . The annealing process of claim 10 , wherein the sensitizing step, annealing step, and the cooling down step may be repeated for plurality of cycles.

20 . An aluminum alloy of AA5XXX series produced by the annealing process of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Taheri Mitra Lenore
• D Antuono Daniel Scotto
• Univ Drexel

Inventors

• Taheri Mitra Lenore
• D Antuono Daniel Scotto

Classifications

• C22C21/08

  with silicon · CPC title

• C22F1/047 Primary

  of alloys with magnesium as the next major constituent · CPC title

• C22F1/04

  of aluminium or alloys based thereon · CPC title