Quench Sensitivity of Medium and High Strength Aluminium Alloys

Abstract

An attempt has been made to determine the suitability of the conventional Jominy end quench test for assessing the quenching behaviour of heat treatable aluminium alloys. Hence it was decided to apply the Jominy test initially on specimens of 6061, 2024, and 7075 alloys possessing considerable differences in quenching response. The Jominy test with slight modification was found to be successful in revealing the quenching response of the alloys studied. Experimental results have indicated that the quench sensitivity of these alloys increases in the order of 6061, 2024, and 7075. The quench sensitivity of Al alloys is primarily governed by two factors. Firstly, the increase in the concentration of the alloying elements increases the quench sensitivity. Secondly, the elements that form high temperature inter-metallics make aluminium alloys more quench sensitive.