Investigation of post-weld heat treatment (T6) and welding orientation on the strength of TIG-welded AL6061

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of T6 post-weld heat treatment (PWHT), and welding orientation on the strength and microstructure of tungsten inert gas (TIG) welded AL6061 aluminum alloy. The TIG process was used to weld the AL6061 at the transversal and longitudinal orientations with reference to the rolling direction. The T6-PWHT is a two-phase heat treatment process, and was applied to AL6061 in order to increase its strength. This T6 was carried out under three different artificial aging; 8, 18, and 24 hours. The influence of PWHT and welding orientation on the strength of AL6061-T6 were investigated through a series of tensile and microhardness tests. In addition, the microstructure observations were performed using the optical and scanning electron microscopes. It was established that the strength and microstructural characteristics of AL6061 are significantly dependent on the T6 artificial aging. Accordingly, the improvements in the strength and ductility were mainly contributed by the grain growth and subsequent precipitate strengthening. Moreover, the welding orientation only affects their fracture surfaces and locations after tensile testing.

Keywords

• aluminum alloy
• post weld heat treatment (pwht)
• mechanical strength
• tungsten inert gas (tig) welding
• welding orientation