Non-heat-treatable aluminum alloys constitute a group of alloys that rely solely upon cold work and solid solution strengthening for their strength properties. This article focuses on the weldability and weld properties of different classes on non-heat-treatable aluminum alloys.

The physical and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy can be improved by strengthening mechanisms such as strain hardening used for non-heat treatable aluminum alloy and precipitation hardening used for heat treatable aluminum alloy. This article focuses on the effect of strengthening mechanisms on the physical and mechanical properties of non-heat treatable and heat treatable aluminum alloys. It describes the use of the aluminum alloy phase diagram in determining the melting temperature, solidification path, equilibrium phases, and explains the effect of alloying element in phase formation.

Weldability is a function of three major factors: base material quality, welding process, and design. This article focuses on base-metal weldability of aluminum alloys in terms of mechanical property degradation in both the weld region and heat-affected zone, weld porosity, and susceptibility to solidification cracking and liquation cracking. It provides an overview on welding processes, including gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, resistance spot and seam welding, laser beam welding, and various solid-state welding processes. A review on joint design is also included, mainly in the general factors associated with service weldability (fitness). The article also provides a discussion on the selection and weldability of non-heat-treatable aluminum alloys, heat treatable aluminum alloys, aluminum-lithium alloys, and aluminum metal-matrix composites.

This article is a comprehensive collection of property data for wrought aluminum and aluminum alloys. Data are provided for the physical properties and mechanical properties of wrought aluminum and aluminum alloys. The listing also includes values that indicate the effect of temperatures on tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation, and the mechanical properly limits for aluminum alloy die forgings, non-heat-treatable and heat-treatable aluminum alloy sheets and plates, and non-heat-treatable aluminum alloy extruded wires, rods, bars, and shapes.

Aluminum and its alloys can be joined by as many or more methods than any other metal. This article discusses the properties of aluminum, namely hydrogen solubility, electrical conductivity, and thermal characteristics. It analyses the primary factors commonly considered when selecting a welding filler alloy. These include ease of welding or freedom from cracking, tensile or shear strength of the weld, weld ductility, service temperature, corrosion resistance, and color match between the weld and base alloy after anodizing. The article provides a detailed description of gas-shielded arc welding processes for welding of aluminum alloys and also reviews other welding processes such as oxyfuel gas welding and laser-beam welding.

Metallic matrices are essential constituents for the fabrication of metal-matrix composites (MMCs). This article describes three different classes of aluminum alloys, namely, commercial aluminum alloys, low-density and high-modulus alloys, and high temperature alloys. It presents typical tensile properties and fracture toughness of the selected heat treatable aluminum alloys in a table. Titanium alloys are very attractive for MMC applications, due to their higher strength and temperature capability compared to aluminum alloys. The article tabulates the effect of heat treatment on room-temperature properties and tensile properties of Ti-25Al-17Nb alloy sheet.

Porcelain enamel is a fusion bonded glass coating that resists chemical and abrasive attack, provides thermal and electrical insulation, and improves aesthetic qualities. It is used on cast iron as well as steel and aluminum alloys. This article provides a review of the porcelain enameling process, the composition of frits, and the preparation of coating substrates. It also provides information on chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties and sheds light on process consistency and quality control.

Annealing is an essential treatment in the fabrication of metal parts and semiproducts. This article discusses the processes involved in annealing, namely, recovery, recrystallization, and grain coarsening. It lists the heat treatment conditions of processed aluminum alloys. It provides information on the types of heat treatment, which include preheating, full anneal, stabilization, and stoving. The article describes the steps involved for achieving the age-hardening effect and the strongest hardening effect in aluminum. The steps to increase the strength of aluminum alloys by extremely fine, dispersed second-phase particles are: solution heat treatment, quenching, and age hardening. Finally, the article also discusses the process parameters of annealing, including the effect of strain, effect of temperature, effect of heating rate, and the effect of alloy elements, and the effect of annealing on anisotropy.

Brazing technology is continually advancing for a variety of metals including aluminum and its alloys and nonmetals. This article discusses the key physical phenomena in aluminum brazing and the materials for aluminum brazing, including base metals, filler metals, brazing sheet, and brazing flux. It describes various aluminum brazing methods, such as furnace, vacuum, dip, and torch brazing. Friction, flow, induction, resistance, and diffusion brazing are some alternate brazing methods discussed. The article reviews the brazing of aluminum to ferrous alloys, aluminum to copper, and aluminum to other nonferrous metals. It also discusses post-braze processes in terms of post-braze heat treatment and finishing. The article concludes with information on the safety precautions considered in brazing aluminum alloys.

Work or strain hardening is a natural consequence of most working and forming operations on aluminum and its alloys. This article describes the annealing practices of strain-hardened alloys. It lists the temper designations for strain-hardened alloys. The article discusses the annealing of worked structures in terms of recovery, recrystallization, and grain coarsening. It summarizes some of the annealing treatments used in conjunction with fabrication by metal working, including preheating, interannealing, self-annealing, stabilization, and stoving. The article concludes with information on the key process parameters affecting the final properties of aluminum alloys.

Aluminum, a commonly used base material for brazing, can be easily fabricated by most manufacturing methods, such as machining, forming, and stamping. This article outlines non-heat-treatable wrought alloys typically used as base metals for the brazing process. It highlights chloride-active and fluoride-active types of fluxes that are used for torch, furnace, or dip brazing processes. The article explains the steps to be performed, including the designing of joints, preblaze cleaning, assembling, brazing techniques (dip brazing, furnace and torch brazing, fluxless vacuum brazing), flux removal techniques, and postbraze heat treatment processes. It concludes with information on the safety precautions to be followed during the brazing process.

This article provides an overview of key metallurgy, properties, and applications of the non-heat-treatable 5xxx series of aluminum alloys. It also shows the relationships between some of the more commonly used alloys in the 5xxx series.

This article provides a comprehensive discussion on die casting alloy types and casting processes used in high-pressure die casting. It presents the advantages and disadvantages of high-pressure die casting and describes the product design for the process. The article concludes with information on the metal injection process of high-pressure die casting.

Heat treatment of aluminum alloys frequently refers to the heat treatable aluminum alloys that can be strengthened by solution treatment, quenching, and subsequent hardening. This article introduces the general metallurgy of strengthening aluminum alloys by heat treatment. It discusses various heat treatable alloying elements, such as copper, chromium, iron, magnesium, silicon, zinc, and lithium. The article describes the age-hardening treatments and generalized precipitation sequence for aluminum alloys. It reviews the solution heat treatment in terms of solution heating time and temperature, as well as high-temperature oxidation. The article also discusses quench sensitivity, vacancy loss, grain-boundary precipitates, and quench delay for the heat treatment of aluminum. It concludes with a discussion on the deformation of aluminum alloys prior to aging.

Fracture of aluminum alloys can occur due to several failure types and/or fracture morphologies, including overload, intergranular fracture, fatigue, corrosion, and mixed-mode fracture. This article provides a detailed discussion on these failure types and/or fracture morphologies. It also presents the differences between wrought and cast aluminum products.

This article focuses on the temperature requirements of typical nonferrous metals and their alloys of commercial importance. These include aluminum, copper, magnesium, and titanium. The article describes the thermoelectricity, photoelectricity, and capacity of aluminum alloys. In addition, it provides information on the electrical properties of copper and its alloys. The article also lists typical physical and mechanical properties of aluminum alloys at ambient temperature.

This article describes the general categories and metallurgy of heat treatable aluminum alloys. It briefly reviews the key impurities and each of the principal alloying elements in aluminum alloys, namely, copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, zinc, iron, lithium, titanium, boron, zirconium, chromium, vanadium, scandium, nickel, tin, and bismuth. The article discusses the secondary phases in aluminum alloys, namely, nonmetallic inclusions, porosity, primary particles, constituent particles, dispersoids, precipitates, grain and dislocation structure, and crystallographic texture. It also discusses the mechanisms used for strengthening aluminum alloys, including solid-solution hardening, grain-size strengthening, work or strain hardening, and precipitation hardening. The process of precipitation hardening involves solution heat treatment, quenching, and subsequent aging of the as-quenched supersaturated solid solution. The article briefly discusses these processes of precipitation hardening. It also reviews precipitation in various alloy systems, including 2xxx, 6xxx, 7xxx, aluminum-lithium, and Al-Mg-Li systems.

This datasheet provides information on composition limits, mill product specifications, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and applications of high-strength Al-Mg-Mn-Cr alloy 5456.