EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

6XXX alloys (AlMgSi) are of great importance for the automotive industry and lightweight design. Currently, more than 100 different compositions (different levels of alloying elements, different magnesium:silicon ratios, trace elements) of the alloy 6082 are known. In this study, quench rates between 1 and 200 K/s were applied to study the effect on mechanical properties and microstructure. Dif-ferent magnesium and silicon levels were analyzed as a function of quench rate and aging parameters. It has been found, that in most cases a higher strength can be achieved with a hot quench medium, acting as a “pre-aging” treatment. TEM studies indicated that not only precipitation hardening, but also solid solution and cluster hardening are significantly contributing to the strength of artificial aged samples.