Increasing Strength and Corrosion Resistance of AlMgSi Alloys by Tailor-Made Thermomechanical Processing

The impact extrusion process of aluminum is an important manufacturing method for production of semi-finished products. Actually AlMgSi (EN AW 6xxx) alloys are impact extruded in a soft state (0 condition), however a heat treatment on the final products is needed to generate a high ductility and strength (T6 condition). Through this heat treatment distortions on the final product could occur and new process routes have to be developed. The purpose of this study is to compare mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of different process routes to be able to optimize industrial processes. In this work the deformation resistance, heat generation during deformation, strength and corrosion resistance as a function of thermomechanical processing and microstructure were analyzed.