Heat Treating

[BenLeacock™]

Hey people just asking for a bit of help

Does anyone no were/how to heat treat alu

Is it possible to do it your self ?

Ive googled but cant find anything

If it is possible i will be very grateful to the person who explains

Thank you for your time

Ben

Edited May 23, 2007 by benleacock

[IOLO]

its a tricky one, get it right, its good,

get it just slightly wrong it will ruin the strength of what your treating.

i have done it my self before it worked.

if you can find a factory to do it for you, do that !

what you heat treating ??

iolo.

[PaRtZ]

wow i didnt know you could heat treat alu cos it had no carbon in it

learn something new everyday eh? what do you do just burn it a bit?

[Bionic Balls]

it's a bit more complicated that that! depends on the alloy you're using but it's generally about relaxing internal stress in the material, and/or (esp. in Al alloys) precipitate hardening..

[ilikeriding]

Are you heat treating your onza T-vee?

[Heatsink]

Check out the grade of alu your intending this for. It may already be heat treated, like the billet aluminium which I get parts CNCed from

Steve

[BenLeacock™]

Are you heat treating your onza T-vee?

Nah its a old dirt jumping frame im changing the geo abit just to see weither it will work

Ben

(its a t-bird )

[Muel]

I heard from the welder at my Dad's works that what you actually need is a big industrial oven, put the frame in it and heat it up to a certain temperature, (depends on the grade of aluminum), over the course of an hour or two, then take it out and let it cool slowly, just in room temperature air. If you quench it in water then it will be too brittle and will snap, so its best to leave it on one side and just let it cool slowly.

It might be worth noting that you may wish to re-paint it after wards.

[Guest]

http://www.google.com/search?q=aluminium+h...amp;startPage=1

http://www.mtbr.com/files/data/250.html

Heat treating directions are based on information provided by Easton (which sells both 6061 and 7005 tube).

Normal processing for 7005 tube

(assumes that you don't need to put a significant bend in anything) (all temps quoted are in Farenheight, and are to be maintained within +- 10 degrees F)

1. Weld. Either GTA or GMA (aka TIG or MIG)

2. Align. Do this as soon as possible after welding, within 6 hours, or the frames lifespan can be compromised.

3. Artificial age. For whole frames, from factory heat treated tubes, 6 hours at 200 F, then 4 hours at 320 F.

If you need to bend or crimp a tube, you have to anneal it first.

Anneal 7005.

2 hours at 700 F, then turn down the temprature 50 F per hour until 450 F. Hold two hours at 450, then air cool.

Once annealed, you can form it. After forming, you need to soulution heat treat, delay and do the first stage of artifical age.

Heat treat 7005

Soak at 850 F for 30 min, then quench, with water, water/glycol, water spray, or forced air. When water quenching, water temp should never exceed 100F.

When cooling with air or water spray, quench rate must be faster than 4F per second. Higher quench speeds produce greater strenght, but

higher distortion.

If you heat treat a tube, you need to do half of the artifical ageing to it before welding. After a 72 hour room temperature delay, the same time and temp profile as above are used. (6 hr 200f, 4 hr 320F) Tubes shipped from the factory are in this state. You can then process as normal. (weld, align, age)

Whole frame heat treat and age, 7005

You can heat treat single tubes or the entire frame. If you heat treat an entire finish welded frame, you align it after the heat treat quench. You

then have to delay at room temprature for a minimum of 72 hours, and do a more extensive artifical age. 8 hours at 225F, then 16 hours at

300F. (as the normal process divides the aging)

6061, Normal processing.

1. Weld -- again TIG or MIG are the choices.

2. Solution heat treat. 30 minutes at 980 F. Quench in water or water/glycol (no option for mist or air), keeping quench liquid at 100F or lower.

3. Align. Again, you want to do this as soon as the material is quenched, max of 8 hours. The more you wait, the harder aligning becomes, and the greater the residual stress that gets locked in. This can make the material less resistant to fatigue failure.

4. Delay. At least 72 hours at room temprature.

5. Artifical age. 8 hours at 350F.

If you need to make significant bends or crimps in 6061 you have to anneal. This is a much faster process than with 7000 series. Only 2 hours at 675F, then reduce temperature to 650F, and soak 30 minutes. Follow by air cool, then form as soon as possible after that. No need to heat treat before welding, as the whole frame will get it afterwards.

That took five minutes, I find it hard to believe that you actually did any research on this before posting because that info above is in the first set of result's on google for me..... but yeh, there you have it.

Edited May 26, 2007 by jake1516

[BenLeacock™]

http://www.google.com/search?q=aluminium+h...amp;startPage=1

http://www.mtbr.com/files/data/250.html

Heat treating directions are based on information provided by Easton (which sells both 6061 and 7005 tube).

Normal processing for 7005 tube

(assumes that you don't need to put a significant bend in anything) (all temps quoted are in Farenheight, and are to be maintained within +- 10 degrees F)

1. Weld. Either GTA or GMA (aka TIG or MIG)

2. Align. Do this as soon as possible after welding, within 6 hours, or the frames lifespan can be compromised.

3. Artificial age. For whole frames, from factory heat treated tubes, 6 hours at 200 F, then 4 hours at 320 F.

If you need to bend or crimp a tube, you have to anneal it first.

Anneal 7005.

2 hours at 700 F, then turn down the temprature 50 F per hour until 450 F. Hold two hours at 450, then air cool.

Once annealed, you can form it. After forming, you need to soulution heat treat, delay and do the first stage of artifical age.

Heat treat 7005

Soak at 850 F for 30 min, then quench, with water, water/glycol, water spray, or forced air. When water quenching, water temp should never exceed 100F.

When cooling with air or water spray, quench rate must be faster than 4F per second. Higher quench speeds produce greater strenght, but

higher distortion.

If you heat treat a tube, you need to do half of the artifical ageing to it before welding. After a 72 hour room temperature delay, the same time and temp profile as above are used. (6 hr 200f, 4 hr 320F) Tubes shipped from the factory are in this state. You can then process as normal. (weld, align, age)

Whole frame heat treat and age, 7005

You can heat treat single tubes or the entire frame. If you heat treat an entire finish welded frame, you align it after the heat treat quench. You

then have to delay at room temprature for a minimum of 72 hours, and do a more extensive artifical age. 8 hours at 225F, then 16 hours at

300F. (as the normal process divides the aging)

6061, Normal processing.

1. Weld -- again TIG or MIG are the choices.

2. Solution heat treat. 30 minutes at 980 F. Quench in water or water/glycol (no option for mist or air), keeping quench liquid at 100F or lower.

3. Align. Again, you want to do this as soon as the material is quenched, max of 8 hours. The more you wait, the harder aligning becomes, and the greater the residual stress that gets locked in. This can make the material less resistant to fatigue failure.

4. Delay. At least 72 hours at room temprature.

5. Artifical age. 8 hours at 350F.

If you need to make significant bends or crimps in 6061 you have to anneal. This is a much faster process than with 7000 series. Only 2 hours at 675F, then reduce temperature to 650F, and soak 30 minutes. Follow by air cool, then form as soon as possible after that. No need to heat treat before welding, as the whole frame will get it afterwards.

That took five minutes, I find it hard to believe that you actually did any research on this before posting because that info above is in the first set of result's on google for me..... but yeh, there you have it.

I did google, but i don't think my search was good enough

Cheers that really help

Ben

[Guest]

glad it helped