Quenching residual stress distributions in aluminum alloy plates with different dimensions

Finite element method (FEM) simulations were employed to investigate the quenching residual stress distributions of 7085 aluminum alloy plates. The effect of dimensional variation on the quenching residual stress distributions was studied and discussed by using models with different dimensions (length, width, and thickness). The accuracy and efficiency of the models were verified by other numerical examples. The order of the dimension effects on the quenching residual stress distributions is: thickness > width = length. The maximum tensile stress and compressive stress increase from 33 to 190 and 39 to 270 MPa, respectively, as the thickness increases from 30 to 150 mm. The ultimate maximum tensile stress (about 190 MPa) is equivalent to half of the quenching yield strength at 20 degrees C, while the ultimate maximum compressive stress (about 300 MPa) is equivalent to 80 % of the quenching yield strength at 20 degrees C. There are stress fluctuations at the edge of the large plate both in rolling and in transverse directions. The ratio of the fluctuation region along the rolling direction and transverse direction increases as the thickness increases, while it decreases as the length or width increases. The actual length of the fluctuation region is almost a constant value for the plates with a thickness of 115 mm (about 500 mm in length and 300 mm in width).