The effect of heat treatment on the high-cycle fatigue behavior of 6061 extruded alloys was investigated in this study. Microstructure examination, tensile and high-cycle fatigue test were conducted on both AI-Si-Mg extruded (F) and heat treated (T6) ...
The effect of heat treatment on the high-cycle fatigue behavior of 6061 extruded alloys was investigated in this study. Microstructure examination, tensile and high-cycle fatigue test were conducted on both AI-Si-Mg extruded (F) and heat treated (T6) conditions. From the tensile tests, yield and tensile strengths increased and elongation decreased by T6 heat treatment. The high-cycle fatigue results indicated that the fatigue strength of the 6061-T6 alloy was significantly higher than that of the 6061-F alloys. Fatigue cracks were initiated near the surface of specimens regardless of heat treatment. In the case of6061-T6 alloy, 2<SUP>nd</SUP> cracks easily appeared when the fatigue crack met Mg₂Si phase during fatigue propagation. Fine Mg₂Si phases could be formed and homogeneously distributed by T6 heat treatment. The Mg₂Si was believed to act an effective role of retardation of fatigue crack initiation and propagation. The fatigue deformation mechanism of extruded 6061 aluminum alloy was also discussed.