Karim, P., Amin, R., Amin, H., Khwakaram, A., Mahmood, O. (2025). Effect of quenching medium, solution treatment, and aging parameters on mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061. , 43(1), 94-100. doi: 10.30684/etj.2024.154350.1832
Pshtiwan M. Karim; Rekawt R. Amin; Hawre F. Amin; Abbas I. Khwakaram; Omer S. Mahmood. "Effect of quenching medium, solution treatment, and aging parameters on mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061". , 43, 1, 2025, 94-100. doi: 10.30684/etj.2024.154350.1832
Karim, P., Amin, R., Amin, H., Khwakaram, A., Mahmood, O. (2025). 'Effect of quenching medium, solution treatment, and aging parameters on mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061', , 43(1), pp. 94-100. doi: 10.30684/etj.2024.154350.1832
Karim, P., Amin, R., Amin, H., Khwakaram, A., Mahmood, O. Effect of quenching medium, solution treatment, and aging parameters on mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061. , 2025; 43(1): 94-100. doi: 10.30684/etj.2024.154350.1832

Effect of quenching medium, solution treatment, and aging parameters on mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061

Engineering and Technology Journal
Volume 43, Issue 1, January 2025, Pages 94-100    PDF (442.15 K)
Document Type: Research Paper
DOI: 10.30684/etj.2024.154350.1832
Authors
Pshtiwan M. Karim1; Rekawt R. Amin1; Hawre F. Amin* 1; Abbas I. Khwakaram1; Omer S. Mahmood2
1Sulaimani Technical Institute, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Sulaumaniyah, Iraq.
2Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Dept., Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Sulaumaniyah, Iraq.
Abstract
This study demonstrates the effect of quenching medium, solution treatment, and aging parameters on the mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061. To select an optimal quenching medium from three distinct quenching media (corn, sunflower, and sesame oil), solution heat treatment was conducted on three impact test samples at 545 ℃ for 2 hours, and then quenching was conducted in the mentioned quenching medium. Consequently, sesame oil demonstrated the lowest shock absorption rate; thus, sesame oil was selected as the quenching medium. As a result, every sample for tensile, hardness, and impact tests underwent solution heat treatment at 545 ℃ for 2 hours, followed by quenching in sesame oil to room temperature, and subsequent artificial aging at temperatures of 180 ℃, 195 ℃, and 210 ℃ for 1, 2, 4 hours. Considerable enhancements in the mechanical properties were observed in tensile strength value and hardness while the ductility decreased. It was observed that the best result was achieved by aging at 195 ℃ for 4 hours, increasing the ultimate tensile strength to 351.413 N/mm2 from the initial value of 260 N/mm2 for the as-received specimen; this is attributed to the formation of finely dispersed grains. In contrast, the ultimate tensile strength for the annealing condition decreased to 152.020 N/mm2 due to forming a coarser grain size. Furthermore, the highest hardness value achieved is 39.10 HRB, achieved by aging at 195 ℃ for 4 hours, compared to the hardness value achieved by annealing conditions at 18.23 HRB. 

Highlights
  • How quenching medium and aging parameters affect the mechanical properties of Aluminum alloy 6061.
  • Sesame oil was the optimal quenching medium among sesame, sunflower, and corn oils.
  • Ultimate tensile strength was improved significantly, exceeding twice the value of the annealed sample.
Keywords
Aluminum alloy 6061; Heat treatment; Quenching; Aging; Sesame oil
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