EP1190109B1 - Heat treatment of formed aluminum alloy products - Google Patents

Heat treatment of formed aluminum alloy products Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1190109B1
EP1190109B1 EP00929167A EP00929167A EP1190109B1 EP 1190109 B1 EP1190109 B1 EP 1190109B1 EP 00929167 A EP00929167 A EP 00929167A EP 00929167 A EP00929167 A EP 00929167A EP 1190109 B1 EP1190109 B1 EP 1190109B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
shaped article
process according
article
range
temperature
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP00929167A
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German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1190109A1 (en
Inventor
Alok Kumar Gupta
David James Lloyd
Pierre Henri Marois
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Rio Tinto Alcan International Ltd
Original Assignee
Alcan International Ltd Canada
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Alcan International Ltd Canada filed Critical Alcan International Ltd Canada
Publication of EP1190109A1 publication Critical patent/EP1190109A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1190109B1 publication Critical patent/EP1190109B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22F—CHANGING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND NON-FERROUS ALLOYS
    • C22F1/00—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working
    • C22F1/04—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working of aluminium or alloys based thereon
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22F—CHANGING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND NON-FERROUS ALLOYS
    • C22F1/00—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working
    • C22F1/04—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working of aluminium or alloys based thereon
    • C22F1/05—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working of aluminium or alloys based thereon of alloys of the Al-Si-Mg type, i.e. containing silicon and magnesium in approximately equal proportions
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22F—CHANGING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND NON-FERROUS ALLOYS
    • C22F1/00—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working
    • C22F1/04—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working of aluminium or alloys based thereon
    • C22F1/057—Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working of aluminium or alloys based thereon of alloys with copper as the next major constituent

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a heat treatment process for shaped articles, particularly those suitable for use in the fabrication of automotive body panels. More particularly, the invention relates to such articles made from aluminum alloy sheet material that exhibits an improvement of hardness after painting and baking operations have been carried out.
  • Aluminum alloy sheet is being used more extensively nowadays as a structural and closure sheet material for vehicle bodies as automobile manufacturers strive for improved fuel economy by reducing vehicle weight.
  • aluminum alloy is either direct chill cast to form ingots or continuous cast in the form of a thick strip material, and then hot rolled to a preliminary thickness. In a separate operation, the strip is cold rolled to the final thickness and wound into coil. The coil must then undergo solution heat treatment to allow strengthening of the formed panel during painting and baking (steps usually carried out on shaped automotive parts by vehicle manufacturers or others - also referred to as the paint bake or paint cure).
  • AA6000 series alloys contain magnesium and silicon, both with and without copper but, depending upon the Cu content, may be classified as AA2000 series alloys. These alloys are formable in the T4 or T4P temper conditions and become stronger after painting and baking. Good increases in strength after painting and baking are highly desirable so that thinner and therefore lighter panels may be employed.
  • the alloy sheet when delivered to the manufacturer, be relatively easily deformable so that it can be stamped or formed into products of the required shapes without difficulty and without excessive springback.
  • the products, once formed and subjected to the normal painting and baking procedure be relatively hard so that thin sheet can be employed and still provide good dent resistance.
  • T4 The temper referred to as T4 is well known (see, for example, Aluminum Standards and Data (1984), page 11, published by The Aluminum Association) and refers to alloy produced in the conventional manner, i.e. without intermediate batch annealing and pre-aging. This is the temper in which automotive sheet panels are normally delivered to parts manufacturers for forming into skin panels and the like. Material that has undergone an intermediate batch annealing, but no pre-aging, is said to have a T4A temper. An alloy that has only been solution heat-treated and artificially aged to peak strength is said to be in the T6 temper.
  • T8 temper designates an alloy that has been solution heat-treated, cold worked and then artificially aged. Artificial aging involves holding the alloy at elevated temperature(s) over a period of time.
  • T8X temper refers to a T8 temper material that has been deformed in tension by 2% followed by a 30 minute treatment at 177°C to represent the forming plus paint baking treatment typically experienced by formed automotive panels.
  • An objective has been to provide a good "paint bake response", i.e. a significant difference in hardness between the T4/T4P temper and the final T8X temper.
  • An object of the invention is to provide a process of producing a shaped article of enhanced hardness response without modification of a conventional procedure for produced aluminum sheet material in T4 or T4P temper.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a solution heat treated aluminum alloy product that exhibits a good hardness response during shaped article formation and finishing.
  • Yet another object of the invention is to produce a formed product from an aluminum alloy sheet material that has a low yield strength in T4 temper and a high yield strength in T8X temper.
  • a process of producing a painted shaped article involving obtaining a sheet article made of an aluminum alloy of the 2000 or 6000 series in a T4 or T4P temper; shaping the article by bending or stamping the article to form a non-planar shaped article; applying paint to the shaped article to form a painted shaped article; and if necessary to further enhance hardness of the painted shaped article and/or to cure the applied paint, baking the article at a temperature of at least 177°C; characterized in that the shaped article is subjected to a thermal spiking treatment before painting involving heating the shaped article temporarily to a peak temperature in the range of 150°C to 300°C.
  • thermal spike treatment means a step in which the article is quickly raised in temperature from ambient (or other temperature at which the sheet material may be heated on the part treatment line) to a predetermined maximum temperature and is then quickly cooled or allowed to cool with or without providing a holding period at the peak temperature.
  • shaped article includes any article obtained from sheet material for use in fabricating an article or component.
  • the term refers to a non-planar article produced by a bending or stamping step, e.g. for the production of an automobile fender or door.
  • the term does not include unformed or uncut sheet material of indefinite length, e.g. coiled sheet produced directly from ingots or cast strip.
  • the present invention may be carried out with any precipitation hardening aluminum alloy of the AA2000 or AA6000 series, i.e. alloys containing Al-Mg-Si or Al-Mg-Si-Cu that are capable of exhibiting an age hardening response.
  • the invention also relates to a painted and shaped sheet article produced by the above process.
  • This term refers to the change in tensile properties of the material at the end of a finishing process involving painting and optionally baking, compared to the properties prior to shaping. In the present invention, this increase may occur partially or fully during painting and baking, or partially or fully before such painting and baking, i.e. during the heat spike treatment itself, as will be explained more fully below.
  • an article created from the sheet is subjected to a thermal spike treatment at a temperature in the range of 150-300°C after shaping (e.g. cutting/forming/stamping).
  • the treatment may either involve a thermal spike confined to the lower part of the temperature range (e.g. 154-225°C), which then relies on hardening from a subsequent paint bake step, or may involve a thermal spike into the upper part of the temperature range (e.g.
  • the formed part softens slightly, but the hardness response during subsequent painting and baking is improved in comparison with the conventional material. It should be noted that the formed part does not soften when the thermal spiking treatment is carried out at higher spiking temperatures. This is largely due to the fact that the enhanced aging process masks the softening caused by the cluster dissolution. Surprisingly, the dislocations produced during part forming do not interfere with the precipitation process as normally expected. This observation allows the thermally spiked panels to acquire the desired enhanced strength during the paint cure.
  • thermal spiking to temperatures in the lower part of the range may be carried out at relatively slow heating rates (e.g. about 1 to 70°C/minute), especially if the article is not held at the peak temperature for any time and is merely allowed to cool (or is forcefully cooled) as soon as the peak temperature is achieved.
  • the relatively slow heating rate is often found to be necessary to improve the subsequent paint bake response; i.e. the desired improvement in hardness will often not materialize if the heating rate is any higher.
  • the heating to the peak temperature in this form of the invention may take too long for the step to be incorporated into a continuous stamping and painting line. A batch treatment is therefore required.
  • the heating rate may be quite rapid (e.g. 10 to 280°C/minute), even if there is essentially no holding time at the peak temperature. It is found that the desired increase in hardness will occur whether the heating rate is in the lower part or the higher part of the range indicated above, but for the process to be incorporated into a continuous stamping and painting/baking line, the peak metal temperature (PMT) must generally be reached within about one minute. If the lowest ambient temperature likely to be encountered is 15°C, the effective range for a continuous operation would likely be 210 to 285°C/minute, which is the preferred heating rate for the high temperature thermal spiking treatment.
  • PMT peak metal temperature
  • the period of time for which the temperature is maintained at the peak thermal spike temperature may range from zero to any time that is practical in the circumstances. From the metallurgical point of view, the longer the time at which the temperature is maintained, the better it is for achieving a desirable hardness response. In practice the period is usually from zero up to about 5 minutes.
  • Fig. 1 is a graphic representation of a preferred thermal spiking step showing the preferred PMT range, the overall heating rate range and the preferred time range at PMT.
  • the invention was tested using a commercially produced AA6111 material.
  • DC ingot 600 x 1600 mm double length of the AA6111 alloy containing 0.72% Cu, 0.7% Mg, 0.6% Si, 0.25% Fe, 0.20% Mn and 0.06% Cr was cast on a commercial scale.
  • the ingots were scalped 12.5 mm per rolling face, fully homogenized, hot rolled and cold rolled to the final 0.93mm gauge, fully solutionized, rapidly cooled, naturally aged for ⁇ 48 hours and sampled for laboratory evaluation.
  • the paint bake response of the material was evaluated after subjecting it to a heat treatment according to the invention.
  • Tensile samples were pre-strained by different amounts to simulate a typical forming operation, thermally spiked in a sand bed furnace at 240°C and aged for 30 minutes at 177°C. The results are summarized in Table 1 below.
  • Figure 2 shows that the paint bake response of the AA6111 -T4 material increased about 30 MPa due to aging for 30 minutes at 177°C (simulated paint cure).
  • a similar response is observed in pre-strained material, although the net yield strength (YS) in the 5 and 10% pre-strained product is slightly lower due to recovery.
  • the yield strength (YS) of the thermally spiked material decreases about 40 MPa for all levels of pre-strain, although the paint bake response is about 90 MPa, which is greater than their conventional counterparts (compare Figures 2 and 3).
  • the 10% pre-strained material shows slightly less paint bake response, which is related to the loss of strength due to recovery.
  • the aging response of the hood material is about 20 MPa lower than expected from the laboratory simulation experiments in all aging conditions.
  • Table 3 compares the properties of the hood material with those subjected to thermal spiking at 240°C according to the inventive process.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Application Of Or Painting With Fluid Materials (AREA)
  • Heat Treatments In General, Especially Conveying And Cooling (AREA)
  • Tunnel Furnaces (AREA)
  • Press Drives And Press Lines (AREA)
  • Forging (AREA)
EP00929167A 1999-05-14 2000-05-11 Heat treatment of formed aluminum alloy products Expired - Lifetime EP1190109B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US13437299P 1999-05-14 1999-05-14
US134372P 1999-05-14
PCT/CA2000/000558 WO2000070115A1 (en) 1999-05-14 2000-05-11 Heat treatment of formed aluminum alloy products

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1190109A1 EP1190109A1 (en) 2002-03-27
EP1190109B1 true EP1190109B1 (en) 2003-11-19

Family

ID=22463077

Family Applications (1)

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EP00929167A Expired - Lifetime EP1190109B1 (en) 1999-05-14 2000-05-11 Heat treatment of formed aluminum alloy products

Country Status (9)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1190109B1 (no)
JP (1) JP2002544392A (no)
AT (1) ATE254673T1 (no)
BR (1) BR0010547A (no)
CA (1) CA2372736A1 (no)
DE (1) DE60006670T2 (no)
ES (1) ES2209879T3 (no)
NO (1) NO20015497L (no)
WO (1) WO2000070115A1 (no)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN103710653A (zh) * 2013-12-17 2014-04-09 芜湖万润机械有限责任公司 一种高强高韧铝合金型材的制备方法
US10301709B2 (en) 2015-05-08 2019-05-28 Novelis Inc. Shock heat treatment of aluminum alloy articles

Families Citing this family (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
AUPR360801A0 (en) * 2001-03-08 2001-04-05 Commonwealth Scientific And Industrial Research Organisation Heat treatment of age-hardenable aluminium alloys utilising secondary precipitation
JP4631193B2 (ja) * 2001-03-29 2011-02-16 Ｊｆｅスチール株式会社 塗覆装鋼管の製造方法
WO2007076980A1 (en) * 2006-01-06 2007-07-12 Aleris Aluminum Duffel Bvba Aluminium alloy sheet for automotive applications and structural automobile body member provided with said aluminium alloy sheet
KR102329710B1 (ko) 2015-10-08 2021-11-23 노벨리스 인크. T4 템퍼의 에이징 경화성 알루미늄 합금의 온간 성형 방법
AU2016333860B2 (en) * 2015-10-08 2019-09-19 Novelis Inc. A process for warm forming a hardened aluminum alloy
EP3390678B1 (en) 2015-12-18 2020-11-25 Novelis, Inc. High strength 6xxx aluminum alloys and methods of making the same
US10538834B2 (en) 2015-12-18 2020-01-21 Novelis Inc. High-strength 6XXX aluminum alloys and methods of making the same
CN109804094A (zh) 2016-10-17 2019-05-24 诺维尔里斯公司 带有定制特性的金属板
DE102018100842B3 (de) 2018-01-16 2019-05-09 Ebner Industrieofenbau Gmbh Durchlaufofen für Aluminiumbänder
CN114717493B (zh) * 2022-04-21 2023-09-12 广东齐力澳美高新材料股份有限公司 一种挤压铝型材预时效方法及预时效铝型材挤压产线

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE69520007T3 (de) * 1994-09-06 2008-04-30 Novelis, Inc., Toronto Wärmebehandlungsverfahren für blech aus aluminium-legierung

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN103710653A (zh) * 2013-12-17 2014-04-09 芜湖万润机械有限责任公司 一种高强高韧铝合金型材的制备方法
US10301709B2 (en) 2015-05-08 2019-05-28 Novelis Inc. Shock heat treatment of aluminum alloy articles

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
CA2372736A1 (en) 2000-11-23
BR0010547A (pt) 2002-02-13
NO20015497D0 (no) 2001-11-09
ES2209879T3 (es) 2004-07-01
WO2000070115A1 (en) 2000-11-23
EP1190109A1 (en) 2002-03-27
JP2002544392A (ja) 2002-12-24
ATE254673T1 (de) 2003-12-15
DE60006670D1 (de) 2003-12-24
NO20015497L (no) 2002-01-14
DE60006670T2 (de) 2004-09-30

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