Examination of Formability Properties of 6063 Alloy Extruded Profiles for the Automotive Industry, Metals 2019, 9, 1080; doi:10.3390/met9101080
Athanasios Vazdirvanidis, Ioannis Pressas, Sofia Papadopoulou, Anagnostis Toulfatzis, Andreas Rikos, Marianna Katsivarda, Grigoris Symeonidis and George Pantazopoulos
Abstract
Bendability is a crucial property of automotive parts, which describes the ability of extruded
profiles to be formed to shape, without the appearance of discontinuities that will have an
adverse effect on the mechanical properties and their energy absorption capacity
(crashworthiness). Anisotropic behavior exhibited by Al alloy extrusions has been
documented due to the nature of the hot working process. In the present article an attempt is
made in order to determine the main factors influencing bending properties in longitudinal
and transverse to extrusion direction, which are also related with anisotropic behavior.
Mechanical testing, microscopic examination and finite element analysis were applied in the
frame of the current investigation. The findings were indicative that grain morphology and
orientation (texture), especially on the surface zone of the extruded profiles, as well as
morphology and distribution of the constituent particles are strongly related with formability.