Change of mechanical properties of AM60B alloy with heat treatments and its correlation with small punch tests

AM60B alloy, injected by high pressure die casting process (HPDC), is one of the most widely used alloys for its ease of processing and low price. There is an industrial interest in the use of heat treatments in order to increase the elongation before failure of the alloy. This paper aims to correlate the results of tensile test of heat treated specimens with small punch tests (SPT's). It is also intended to find out if the different characteristic values of such tests for different mechanical properties are sensitive enough to detect changes produced by heat treatments or injection process parameters and if the correlation factors are sufficiently stable. In addition, this study is also focused on the validation of the applicability of such miniature tests for high pressure die casting magnesium alloys, since this process introduces a significant number of defects and thus a variability of the mechanical properties is expected.