Effect of annealing and aging treatment on mechanical properties of ultrafine grained Al 6061 alloy

A comparative study of aging and a combined treatment of short annealing and aging on mechanical properties and microstructure of cryorolled (CR) Al 6061 alloy is investigated in the present work by using tensile tests, hardness tests, electron backscattered diffraction and transmission electron microscope. The pre-CR solid solution treatment combined with post-CR short annealing (200 degrees C, 5 min) followed by aging treatment (100 degrees C, 57 h) of the Al 6061 alloy showed an improved ductility and well defined ultrafine grain structure as compared to the samples subjected to pre-CR solid solution treatment followed by post-CR aging treatment (100 degrees C, 60 h).