Effect of operating temperature on direct recycling aluminium chips (AA6061) in hot press forging process

A method of solid-state recycling aluminum alloy using hot press forging process was studied as well as the possibility of the recycled chip to be used as secondary resources. This paper presents the results of recycled AA6061 aluminium alloy chip using different operating temperature for hot press forging process. Mechanical properties and microstructure of the recycled specimens and as-received (reference) specimen were investigated. The recycled specimens exhibit a good potential in the strength properties. The result for yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) at the minimum temperature 430˚C is 25.8 MPa and 27.13 MPa. For the maximum operating temperature 520˚C YS and UTS are 107.0MPa and 117.53 MPa. Analysis for different operating temperatures shows that the higher temperatures giving better result on mechanical properties and finer microstructure. The strength of recycled specimen increases due to the grain refinement strengthening whereas particle dispersion strengthening has minor effects. In this study, the recycled AA6061 chip shows the good potential in strengthening as the comparison of using only 17.5% of suggested pressure (70.0/400.0) MPa, the UTS exhibit 35.8% (117.58/327.69) MPa. This shows a remarkable potential of direct recycling by using hot press forging process

Hot press as a sustainable direct recycling technique of aluminium: mechanical properties and surface integrity

Meltless recycling technique has been utilized to overcome the lack of primary resources, focusing on reducing the usage of energy and materials. Hot press was proposed as a novel direct recycling technique which results in astoundingly low energy usage in contrast with conventional recycling. The aim of this study is to prove the technical feasibility of this approach by characterizing the recycled samples. For this purpose, AA6061 aluminium chips were recycled by utilizing hot press process under various operating temperature (Ts = 430, 480, and 530 °C) and holding times (ts = 60, 90, and 120 min). The maximum mechanical properties of recycled chip are Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) = 266.78 MPa, Elongation to failure (ETF) = 16.129%, while, for surface integrity of the chips, the calculated microhardness is 81.744 HV, exhibited at Ts = 530 °C and ts = 120 min. It is comparable to theoretical AA6061 T4-temper where maximum UTS and microhardness is increased up to 9.27% and 20.48%, respectively. As the desired mechanical properties of forgings can only be obtained by means of a final heat treatment, T5-temper, aging after forging process was employed. Heat treated recycled billet AA6061 (T5-temper) are considered comparable with as-received AA6061 T6, where the value of microhardness (98.649 HV) at 175 °C and 120 min of aging condition was revealed to be greater than 3.18%. Although it is quite early to put a base mainly on the observations in experimental settings, the potential for significant improvement offered by the direct recycling methods for production aluminium scrap can be clearly demonstrated. This overtures perspectives for industrial development of solid state recycling processes as environmentally benign alternatives of current melting based practices

Improved tool life in end milling Ti-6A1-4V through workpiece preheating

This paper presents the investigation of tool life improvement in end-milling of Titanium Alloy Ti-6Al-4V through workpiece preheating. End milling tests were conducted on Vertical Machining Centre with full immersion cutting. Induction heating was utilized during end milling for preheating. The titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V bar was used as the workpiece. Machining was performed with a 20 mm diameter end-mill tool holder fitted with one PCD inserts. All of the experiments were run under room temperature and preheating condition at 315, 450, and 650ºC. Flank wear has been considered as the criterion for tool failure and the wear was measured using a Hisomet II Toolmaker’s microscope. Tests were conducted until an insert was rejected when an average flank wear greater than 0.30 mm was recorded. Cutting force and torque measurements were conducted using the Kistler Rotating Cutting Force Dynamometer. Vibration during cutting was captured using an online vibration monitoring system. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was also used to investigate the wear morphology. The results led to conclusions that workpiece preheating significantly increases the tool life of PCD inserts in end-milling of Titanium Alloy Ti-6Al-4V

Characterization of Anisotropic Damage Behaviour of Recycled Aluminium Alloys AA6061 Undergoing High Velocity Impact

It is impossible to ignore the realm of the topics related recycling aluminium scraps. The recycled form of this material can be a good replacement for the primary resources due to the economic and environmental benefits. Numerous investigation must be conducted to establish the mechanical behaviour before the specific applications can be identified. In this research, Taylor Cylinder Impact tests used to investigate anisotropic damage behaviour in recycled aluminium alloy is presented. To be specific, by performing Taylor Cylinder Impact test at velocities ranging from 190m/s to 300m/s, anisotropic and damage characteristics can be observed in the samples as a function of the large stress, strain, and strain-rate gradient. The application of Taylor Cylinder Impact test as a technique to validate both the constitutive and dynamic fracture responses in such materials is also discussed. The structure of recycled aluminium AA6061 including the damage initiation and evolution are observed under optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results revealed that the damage evolution of the material change with the increasing impact velocity. Further, the digitised footprint analysis showed a pronounced anisotropic characteristic of the recycled aluminium AA6061

Modelling and optimization of Chromium Powder Mixed EDM Parameter Effect Over the Surface Characteristics by Response Surface Methodology Approach

In this paper, an optimization of chromium powder mixed parameters effect, i.e. discharge current, pulse on time and Cr powder concentration of AISI D2 steels in Powder Mixed EDM (PMEDM) has been made. RSM has been employed to plan and analyzed the experiment. Central composite design (CCD) was chosen as the RSM design that is useful for investigating the quadratic effects. The version 8.0 of the Design Expert software was used to develop the experimental plan for RSM. A mathematical model in the form of the multiple regression equation for second order response surface with the best fittings was developed. The results identify that discharge current and pulse on time the most important parameters effect to minimize recast layer. With the topmost desirability solution, the suggested optimum parameter of discharge current is 20.12 A, pulse-on time 50.14 µs and 3.96 g/L powder concentration to minimize recast layer

Effect of the Heat treatment on Mechanical and Physical Properties of Direct Recycled Aluminium Alloy (AA6061)

Products by solid-state recycling of aluminum chips in hot extrusion process were controlled by temperature related parameters using preheating temperature 450 °C, 500 °C, and 550°C for 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr preheating time. By using Design of Experiments (DOE), the results found that the preheating temperature is more important to be controlled rather than the preheating time in analysis both mechanical and physical properties. The results also found that increasing of temperature led to the high tensile strength and low microhardness. The profile extruded at 550 °C with 3 hr duration had gained the optimum case to get the maximum tensile strength and the profile extruded at 450 °C with 1 hr had result the optimum case to gain the maximum microhardness. For the optimum cases, heat treatment was carried out using quenching temperature at 530 ºC for 2 hr and aging process at 175 ºC for 4 hr. The tensile strength and microhardness of extrudes specimens were improved significantly by heat treatment