The quenching of alloy aluminum plates suddenly drops from high temperature to low temperature, for example, the steel blade needs to be quenched in water to be hard and sharp. The quenching of alloy aluminum plates includes both water cooling and air cooling. The 6063 aluminum alloy plate used in construction is immediately quenched by air cooling. The quenched alloy aluminum plate is placed in an aging furnace for a certain period of time, and the internal crystallization of the aluminum plate is rearranged, significantly improving its mechanical strength.
The forming temperature of alloy aluminum plate extruded profiles is 460-500 degrees Celsius, and the temperature after quenching is generally required to be 200 degrees Celsius. The state of artificial aging after high-temperature extrusion molding and solution heat treatment (quenching) is air cooled (T5); The state of cooling through the high-temperature extrusion molding process and then undergoing artificial aging is water cooling (T6).
T5 is air-cooled after extrusion, T6 is water-cooled after extrusion, and its hardness increases after water quenching. But if the alloy aluminum plate needs to be bent, try not to use T6 as much as possible. Some people believe that the difference between aluminum plate T5 and T6 is only the difference in cooling speed, not the difference in air cooling and water cooling. If the cooling speed of air cooling is large enough, it can also achieve T6 effect. On the contrary, if the cooling speed of water cooling is not large enough, it can only be the effect of T5.
In fact, T6 state can be quenched online (water cooled or strong air cooled) or offline (quenched with a quenching furnace), but it needs to be determined according to customer requirements and product specifications. In actual production, regardless of which production process is used, the key is to meet the mechanical strength requirements of the alloy aluminum plate.
The hardness has little to do with the air cooling speed and water cooling speed. The better the cooling effect, the better the hardness after aging. Why is there a distinction between T5 and T6? Because T5 air-cooled products do not deform in size, and profiles such as doors and windows will choose T5. T6 materials are thin water-cooled profiles that will deform when exposed to water, especially those with openings that are easy to deform when exposed to water. Of course, you can also use floating water, which is the spray type. The effect of the product after being watered is much better than that of air cooling.
