Heat treatment and temperature effects on formability of AA2014-T6 in incremental forming

ABSTRACT

Aluminum alloys of various series are used extensively in the auto and aviation sectors because of their low weight to strength ratio. In the current article, one of the hard-to-form aluminum alloys, i.e., AA2014-T6 investigated for its formability and microstructural changes in incremental forming at room and elevated temperature of 250^OC. The mechanical properties and formability of the material are evaluated using uniaxial tensile test and Varying Wall Angle Cone Frustums (VWACF), respectively. A novel experimental setup is designed with an induction coil to heat the sheet at elevated temperatures for incremental forming. As-received sheets formed at room and elevated temperature of 250^OC, showed less improvement in material formability due to less number of slip planes. Thus, the samples are solutionized at 480^OC for 3 hours followed by aging at 180^OC for 8 hours. However, much improvement was not observed in room temperature formability, even though the ductility was improved significantly. But, forming at an elevated temperature of 250^OC, the formability was enhanced by 956% compared to the as-received material. The formability of the material is correlated with the microstructural modification after solution treatment at room and elevated temperatures.

KEYWORDS:

• AA2014-T6
• incremental
• forming
• induction
• heating
• Solutionising
• formability
• microstructure
• thickness
• strain
• forces

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial supports from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, Sanction No. - DST/TDT/DDP-18/2018(C).