The effect of homogenisation treatment on cold deformations of AA 2014 and AA 6063 alloys

The effect of homogenisation treatment conditions on cold deformations of aluminium alloys AA 2014 and AA 6063 was studied by the torsion test. These aluminium alloys were homogenised at 320, 370, 420 and 470 degreesC for 8 h. The torsion tests were performed on as-cast and homogenised alloys at the room temperature and strain rate of 2 x 10(-2) s(-1). The hardness were measured the Vickers hardness method and the microstructures and textures were investigated by using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray difractometry (XRD). It was observed that the homogenisation treatment affected the microstructure of the specimen tested. The secondary phases, which were large and distributed on grain boundaries, were small and spread through the grains by homogenisation treatment. Compared to as-cast, the homogenisation treatment improved the degree of the cold deformation, depending on the kind of aluminium alloy and homogenisation temperature. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.