Effect of Natural Aging of 6xxx Series Extrusions on the Energy Absorbance Capacity, Materials Science Forum, Vol. 877 (2017), pp 315-321
Athanasios Vazdirvanidis, George Pantazopoulos, Anagnostis Toulfatzis, Andreas Rikos and Dimitrios Manolakos
Abstract
In this study the influence of natural aging in energy absorbance capacity of 6xxx series
extruded profiles after artificial aging is examined by means of optical and scanning electron
microscopy, quasi-static compression and tensile tests. Mobile quenched-in vacancies are
found to play an important role in aging kinetics and formation of precipitate free zones
(PFZs) which govern both the observed fracture modes and the resulting strength of the
material signifying their important effect when maximum energy absorbance is desired. It is
shown that fracture toughness of naturally aged samples is equivalent or higher compared
to that of directly aged samples due to restriction of intergranular cracking.