Ultrasonic and eddy current non-destructive evaluation for property assessment of 6063 aluminum alloy

6063 aluminum alloy is widely used in high-performance structural aerospace and transportation applications for their good mechanical properties. The solution treatment and the aging treatment significantly influence the properties. Therefore, it is necessary to separate unqualified heat-treated parts from qualified treated parts. However, the conventional testing techniques such as optical, scanning electron microscopy, tension testing and micro-hardness testing have been not suitable for inspecting components in service due to the disadvantages of destruction, long time and complex process. This paper uses nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods including ultrasonic and eddy current techniques to characterize the material properties of 6063 aluminum alloy effectively in the shortest possible time and without destruction. During the heat treatment, the variations in hardness and microstructure determined by traditional methods are correlated with sound velocity and attenuation coefficient, electrical conductivity obtained by NDE techniques, and a close correlation between hardness and ultrasonic sound velocity, attenuation coefficient and electrical conductivity measurement can be obtained. It is suggested from the investigation that a better method is available towards the non-destructive detection to characterize the material properties when conventional testing methods are not applicable.