TWI674324B - Method for manufacturing aluminum-manganese alloy - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy. In this method, an aluminum embryo is prepared. This aluminum blank contains about 0.15 wt% to about 0.35 wt% silicon, about 0.25% to about 0.60 wt% iron, about 1.0 wt% to about 1.3 wt% manganese, and about 0.1 wt% to about 0.2 wt%. Copper, titanium less than or equal to about 0.1 wt%, unavoidable impurities, and a balanced amount of aluminum. The aluminum embryo is subjected to a homogenization step, wherein the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization temperature to be about 540 ° C to about 595 ° C. The aluminum billet is subjected to a hot rolling step to obtain a hot rolled aluminum coil. The hot-rolled aluminum coil is subjected to a cold rolling step to obtain a cold-rolled aluminum coil. The cold rolling step is performed with a controlled thickness reduction of about 12% to about 25%.

Description

Manufacturing method of aluminum-manganese alloy

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a highly ductile aluminum-manganese alloy.

Aluminum-manganese (Al-Mn) alloys, such as 3000 series aluminum-manganese work hardening aluminum alloys, have medium strength and elongation properties. Aluminum-manganese alloys are mainly used in curtain walls in the construction industry, can bodies and bottle caps in the beverage industry, three-dimensional (3C) heat sink fins, and automotive insulation films.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a flow chart showing the production of a conventional aluminum-manganese alloy. Traditionally, when manufacturing aluminum-manganese alloys, such as 3003-H14 aluminum, the raw materials of the aluminum alloy are first melted, and then the casting step 100 is performed to obtain an aluminum blank. Next, the aluminum embryo is subjected to a homogenization step 110, wherein the temperature of the homogenization step 110 is greater than or equal to 600 ° C. The homogenized aluminum blank is then subjected to a hot rolling step 120 to obtain a hot rolled aluminum coil. Next, a cold rough rolling step 130 is performed on the hot rolled aluminum coil to obtain a cold rough rolled aluminum coil. Thereafter, an intermediate annealing step 140 is performed on the cold-rolled aluminum coil. After the intermediate annealing step 140, a cold finishing rolling step 150 is performed on the annealed cold rough-rolled aluminum coil to obtain an aluminum coil of aluminum-manganese alloy aluminum.

It is known from the conventional technology that when the 3003-H14 aluminum material is in a reverse hot mill process, the grain size of the 3003-H14 aluminum material after the hot rolling is unevenly distributed in the thickness direction. Therefore, according to the above observations, in order to obtain a uniform grain structure in the traditional process to improve the ductility of aluminum, the aluminum billet usually needs to undergo a homogenization step above 600 ° C before the hot rolling step, so that the alloy adds elements to Atomic solid solution exists in the aluminum embryo. Alloy atom solid solution will not hinder the development of recrystallization during hot rolling. In addition, the traditional process requires the combination of the subsequent cold rough rolling step and the intermediate annealing heat treatment between the cold rough rolling step and the cold finish rolling step to recrystallize the hot-rolled grains, thereby obtaining a more uniform Annealing grain size.

In the traditional process, if the temperature in the homogenization step is lower than 600 ° C, the alloy added element will precipitate fine precipitates with a size of less than 0.4 μm in the aluminum embryo. Such fine precipitates, whether in the reciprocating hot rolling process or the intermediate annealing process, will reduce the number of recrystallization nuclei and inhibit the growth rate of recrystallization, and form a coarse grain structure after the annealing process , Will cause the elongation of the aluminum material to decrease, which is not conducive to the forming of the aluminum material.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy, which adopts a suitable alloy addition amount and introduces a low-temperature homogenization process, thereby precipitating a fine precipitation phase of less than 0.4 μm in the aluminum embryo. Combined with the appropriate hot rolling process and low cold rolling elongation, it can effectively enhance the workability of aluminum-manganese alloys, increase the elongation of aluminum-manganese alloys, and expand the applicability of aluminum-manganese alloys.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy, which can eliminate the intermediate annealing process in the cold rolling process, and thus can greatly simplify the production process.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy, which can shorten the energy consumption of each homogenization furnace, improve the use efficiency of the homogenization furnace, and further save energy and reduce costs.

According to the above object of the present invention, a method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy is proposed. In this method, an aluminum blank is prepared, wherein the aluminum blank comprises about 0.15 wt% to about 0.35 wt% silicon, about 0.25 wt% to about 0.60 wt% iron, about 1.0 wt% to about 1.3 wt% manganese, About 0.1 wt% to about 0.2 wt% copper, less than or equal to about 0.1 wt% titanium, unavoidable impurities, and a balanced amount of aluminum. The aluminum embryo is subjected to a homogenization step, wherein the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization temperature to be about 540 ° C to about 595 ° C. The aluminum billet is subjected to a hot rolling step to obtain a hot rolled aluminum coil. The cold-rolling step is performed on the hot-rolled aluminum coil to obtain a cold-rolled aluminum coil, wherein the cold-rolling step includes controlling a thickness reduction of about 12% to about 25%.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the above-mentioned homogenization temperature is about 540 ° C to about 595 ° C, performing the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization time to about 4 hours to about 9 hours.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the performing the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization temperature to be about 550 ° C to about 575 ° C.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the above-mentioned homogenization temperature is about 550 ° C to about 575 ° C, performing the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization time to about 6 hours to about 8 hours.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the hot rolling step includes controlling the hot finish rolling temperature to be lower than about 360 ° C.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned preparation of the aluminum billet includes performing a material preparation step to provide a raw material of the aluminum billet and melting the raw material of the aluminum billet; and performing a casting step to cast the molten raw material into an aluminum billet.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the total weight of the unavoidable impurities mentioned above does not exceed about 0.1% by weight.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the aluminum-manganese alloy is a 3000-series aluminum-manganese alloy.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned aluminum-manganese alloy is a 3003-H14 aluminum alloy.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the elongation of the aluminum-manganese alloy is greater than about 10%.

100‧‧‧ casting steps

110‧‧‧ Homogenization step

120‧‧‧Hot rolling steps

130‧‧‧Cold rough rolling steps

140‧‧‧Intermediate annealing step

150‧‧‧cold finishing rolling steps

200‧‧‧ preparation steps

210‧‧‧Pouring steps

220‧‧‧ Homogenization step

230‧‧‧Hot rolling steps

240‧‧‧Cold rolling steps

In order to make the above and other objects, features, advantages, and embodiments of the present invention more comprehensible, the description of the drawings is as follows: [FIG. 1] is a flowchart showing the production of a traditional aluminum-manganese alloy; and [FIG. 2] is a flow chart of manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In view of the traditional aluminum alloy manufacturing process, the homogenization temperature needs to be controlled at 600 ° C or higher, so that the alloying elements added to the raw materials can be dissolved in the base material in the atomic state, so the intermediate annealing process in the subsequent cold rolling process can be The recrystallization nucleation point is increased to obtain a better recrystallized grain structure. However, the traditional aluminum alloy manufacturing process requires an intermediate annealing process, so not only is the production process more complicated, but it also consumes a lot of energy. Therefore, the present invention proposes a method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy, which can omit the intermediate annealing process in the traditional process and greatly simplify the production process of the aluminum-manganese alloy. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention adopts a low-temperature homogenization process, and can shorten the energy consumption of the homogenization furnace. Therefore, it can not only effectively save energy, reduce the process cost, but also improve the efficiency of the homogenization furnace. In addition, the elongation of the aluminum-manganese alloy produced by the embodiment of the present invention can reach about 11% to about 15%, which is better than that of the aluminum alloy produced by the traditional method from about 7% to about 9%, so it can be applied to Other high demand products can expand the applicability.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which illustrates a flow chart of manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to an embodiment of the present invention. The aluminum-manganese alloy produced in this embodiment may be a 3000-series aluminum-manganese alloy, and the aluminum-manganese alloy may be a work-hardened aluminum alloy. For example, the aluminum-manganese alloy may be a 3003-H14 aluminum alloy.

When making an aluminum-manganese alloy, an aluminum embryo can be prepared first. In some examples, the aluminum blank may include about 0.15 wt% to about 0.35 wt% silicon, about 0.25 wt% to about 0.60 wt% iron, and about 1.0 wt% to about 1.3 wt based on 100 wt% of the aluminum blank. % Manganese, about 0.1 wt% to about 0.2 wt% copper, less than or equal to about 0.1 wt% titanium, unavoidable impurities, and a balanced amount of aluminum. For example, unavoidable impurities can be zinc and chromium. Inevitable in the aluminum embryo The total weight of the impurities does not exceed about 0.1 wt%. Please continue to refer to FIG. 2. In some exemplary examples, a material preparation step 200 may be performed when preparing the aluminum billet to provide the raw material of the aluminum billet and melt the raw material of the aluminum billet. Next, a casting step 210 may be performed to cast the molten aluminum blank raw material into an aluminum blank.

After the preparation of the aluminum embryo is completed, a homogenization step 220 of the aluminum embryo may be performed. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the aluminum embryo is homogenized at a low temperature. In some examples, the homogenization step 220 may be performed on the aluminum embryo to control the homogenization temperature at about 540 ° C to about 595 ° C. When the homogenization temperature is controlled at about 540 ° C to about 595 ° C, a homogenization step is performed for 220 packets to control the homogenization time at about 4 hours to about 9 hours. In the homogenization step 220 at a low temperature, a fine precipitate having a thickness of about 0.4 μm or less is precipitated in the aluminum embryo. For example, the homogenization step 220 can cause fine precipitates smaller than 0.4 μm to be precipitated in the aluminum embryo. In some exemplary examples, the homogenization step 220 of the aluminum embryo may be controlled at a temperature of about 550 ° C to about 575 ° C. When the homogenization temperature is controlled to about 550 ° C to about 575 ° C, performing the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization time to about 6 hours to about 8 hours.

After the homogenization step 220 of the aluminum billet is completed, a hot rolling step 230 may be performed on the aluminum billet to obtain a hot-rolled aluminum coil. For example, the hot rolling step 230 may sequentially perform a reciprocating hot rolling process and a tandem hot mill process on the aluminum billet. In some exemplary examples, the hot rolling step 230 of the aluminum billet includes controlling the hot finish rolling temperature below about 360 ° C. to avoid uneven recrystallization of the aluminum material after the hot rolling.

After the hot-rolling step 230 of the aluminum billet, a cold-rolling step 240 may be performed on the hot-rolled aluminum coil to obtain a cold-rolled aluminum coil, and the production of the aluminum-manganese alloy is roughly completed. Make. During the cold rolling step 240 according to the embodiment of the present invention, an intermediate annealing step is not additionally performed, that is, the aluminum billet can be completed after the hot rolling step 230 and then the cold rolling step 240, and the intermediate annealing step can be omitted. In addition, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the aluminum billet is cold-rolled by adopting a low-thickness cutting method. For example, during the cold rolling step 240, the thickness reduction can be controlled to about 12% to about 25%.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the low-temperature homogenization step 220 of the aluminum billet is used to first precipitate fine precipitates within 0.4 μm within the aluminum billet, and then the hot rolling step 230 is used to take advantage of the low-temperature rolling of the continuous rolling equipment. This makes it difficult for the aluminum-manganese alloy to recrystallize during the hot rolling process. As a result, most of the aluminum-manganese alloy material after the hot rolling step 230 is a flat rolled structure. In addition, the fine precipitates below 0.4 μm in the aluminum-manganese alloy material can suppress the movement of the dislocation, which can make the aluminum-manganese alloy material have a higher processing strength effect. In this way, when the subsequent cold rolling step 240 is performed on the aluminum billet, only the cold rolling elongation lower than that of the traditional process can be used to meet the mechanical specifications of the 3003-H14 aluminum material. And because the amount of cold rolling is low, at the same strength, the aluminum-manganese alloy material produced in the embodiment of the present invention has a higher elongation than the aluminum-manganese alloy material produced by the traditional process, and the secondary cooling can be omitted. The intermediate annealing step between rolling procedures can greatly simplify the production process of aluminum-manganese alloys. The elongation of the aluminum-manganese alloy produced by the embodiment of the present invention may be greater than about 10%.

In the following, a plurality of comparative examples and examples are used to more specifically describe the technical content and effects of the embodiments of the present invention. See table 1 and table below 2. Table 1 series shows the alloy composition of each test piece, and Table 2 series shows the process parameters and mechanical properties of each test piece.

According to Table 1 above, it can be known that the alloy composition of the test pieces Nos. 1 to 5 all falls within the range of the aluminum embryo composition of the above paragraph [0022]. However, the No. 1 test piece is produced by the traditional production method, which includes a step of homogenizing the aluminum blank at a temperature of 600 ° C or more, an intermediate annealing step of 350 ° C for the aluminum material, and a 30% Cold finishing rolling. It can be known from Table 2 that the tensile strength of the No. 1 test piece is 153 MPa. Although it meets the specifications of 140 MPa to 170 MPa, the elongation of the No. 1 test piece is only 7.7%.

Test piece No. 2 is a process in the range of the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, which includes a step of homogenizing the aluminum billet at a low temperature of 595 ° C for 6 hours, a hot-rolling temperature lower than 360 ° C, and a low-temperature finish rolling of 16%. the amount. Table It can be seen that the tensile strength of the test piece No. 2 is 154 MPa, but the elongation is as high as 16.2%, which is significantly better than that of the comparative example No. 1. The process used for test piece No. 3 is similar to that of test piece No. 2. Only the cold rolling amount is increased from 16% to 21%. This aluminum will increase its processing strengthening effect due to the increase in cold rolling amount. Therefore, From Table 2, it can be clearly compared that the tensile strength of the test piece No. 3 has increased to 164 MPa, and the elongation has decreased slightly to 12.2%. The cold rolling amount of the No. 4 test piece was 28%, which exceeded the cold rolling amount range of the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen from Table 2 above, although the tensile strength of the No. 4 test piece rapidly increased to 179 MPa, its elongation fell sharply to 7.9%, which could not meet the specification requirements for high elongation.

The test piece No. 5 was subjected to a lower temperature homogenization process of 560 ° C. for 8 hours, and the parameters of the hot rolling process and the cold rolling process fell within the range defined by the foregoing embodiments of the present invention. As can be seen from Table 2 above, the elongation of test piece No. 5 is also higher than 10%, reaching 12.7%, which meets the requirements for high elongation specifications. According to the test results of the test pieces Nos. 1 to 5, it can be known that the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to the homogenization temperature and the cold rolling amount. It can also be known that the aluminum-manganese alloy produced by the embodiment of the present invention and the traditional method Compared with aluminum-manganese alloy, it exhibits superior elongation characteristics.

Please refer to Table 1 again. Test No. 6 and Test No. 7 mainly increase the manganese alloy composition in the aluminum embryo by 1.22 wt%, but adopt the manufacturing process of the above embodiment of the present invention. It can be known from Table 2 above that the tensile strengths of the test pieces No. 6 and No. 7 are 158 MPa and 165 MPa, respectively, and the elongation is greater than the standard target value of 10%, reaching 15.1% and 11.5%, respectively. The manganese content in the aluminum embryo of the No. 8 test piece reached 1.4%. As can be seen from Table 2 above, the No. 8 test piece is due to manganese Excessive addition of the alloy can rapidly increase its tensile strength to 173 MPa, but its elongation has dropped sharply to 7.8%, which does not meet the specification requirements for high elongation. The silicon addition amount of the No. 9 test piece is only 0.04 wt%. Therefore, although it uses the process of the above embodiment of the present invention, because the silicon addition is too low, sufficient precipitates with a size of 0.4 μm or less cannot be precipitated during the homogenization process. As a result, the processing strengthening effect of the aluminum-manganese alloy is not significant, and the strength cannot meet the specification requirements. It can be seen that the addition of silicon alloy is also a very important process factor.

It can be known from the above-mentioned embodiments that one advantage of the present invention is that the method for manufacturing the aluminum-manganese alloy of the present invention adopts a proper alloy addition amount and introduces a low-temperature homogenization process, thereby precipitating fine particles of less than 0.4 μm in the aluminum embryo Precipitates. Combined with the appropriate hot rolling process and low cold rolling elongation, it can effectively enhance the workability of aluminum-manganese alloys, increase the elongation of aluminum-manganese alloys, and expand the applicability of aluminum-manganese alloys.

It can be known from the above-mentioned embodiments that another advantage of the present invention is that the manufacturing method of the aluminum-manganese alloy of the present invention can eliminate the intermediate annealing process in the cold rolling process, and thus greatly simplify the production process.

It can be known from the above embodiments that another advantage of the present invention is that the manufacturing method of the aluminum-manganese alloy of the present invention can shorten the energy consumption of each homogenization furnace, improve the efficiency of the homogenization furnace, and can save energy and reduce costs. .

Although the present invention has been disclosed as above by way of example, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person with ordinary knowledge in this technical field can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. because The protection scope of the present invention shall be determined by the scope of the attached patent application.

Claims (10)

An aluminum-manganese alloy manufacturing method includes: preparing an aluminum embryo, wherein the aluminum embryo comprises 0.15 wt% to 0.35 wt% silicon, 0.25% wt to 0.60 wt% iron, 1.0 wt% to 1.3 wt% manganese, 0.1 wt% to 0.2 wt% copper, less than or equal to 0.1 wt% titanium, unavoidable impurities, and a balanced amount of aluminum; performing a homogenization step on the aluminum blank, wherein the homogenization step includes controlling a The homogenization temperature is 540 ° C to 595 ° C; a hot rolling step is performed on the aluminum billet to obtain a hot rolled aluminum coil; and a cold rolling step is performed on the hot rolled aluminum coil to obtain a cold rolled aluminum coil, wherein Performing the cold rolling step includes controlling a thickness reduction of 12% to 25%. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein when the homogenization temperature is 540 ° C to 595 ° C, performing the homogenization step includes controlling a homogenization time to 4 hours to 9 hours. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein performing the homogenization step includes controlling the homogenization temperature to be 550 ° C to 575 ° C. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 3 of the patent application, wherein when the homogenization temperature is 550 ° C to 575 ° C, performing the homogenization step includes controlling a homogenization time to 6 hours to 8 hours. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the hot rolling step includes controlling a hot finish rolling temperature to be lower than 360 ° C. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein preparing the aluminum blank includes: performing a material preparation step to provide a raw material of the aluminum blank and melting the raw material of the aluminum blank; and performing a A casting step to cast the molten raw material into the aluminum blank. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein the total weight of the unavoidable impurities does not exceed 0.1 wt%. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein the aluminum-manganese alloy is a 3000-series aluminum-manganese alloy. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein the aluminum-manganese alloy is a 3003-H14 aluminum alloy. For example, the method for manufacturing an aluminum-manganese alloy according to item 1 of the application, wherein the elongation of the aluminum-manganese alloy is greater than 10%.