Effect of aging time and aging temperature on fatigue and fracture behavior of 6063 aluminum alloy under seawater influence

This paper describes experimentally the effect of seawater corrosion, aging time, and aging temperature on the fatigue resistance property of 6063 aluminum alloy. The 6063 aluminum alloy that was used for the study was heat treated and soaked in seawater for different intervals of time between 2 and 30 weeks. It was found that the maximum fatigue resistance property in the 6063 aluminum alloy was observed when aged between 7 and 9 h and heat treated at temperatures between 160 °C and 200 °C. Generally at constant load, the results indicated that the number of cycles to fail the 6063 aluminum alloy decreased with increasing the soaking time in seawater. Moreover, fracture surfaces were considered and studied under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that the brittle fracture pattern tended to occur with the increase in aging time and temperature. The fatigue striations were observed very clearly at low and peak aging temperature. The increase in the fatigue resistance property with aging time was linked with the vacancies assisted diffusion mechanism and also by the hindering of dislocation movement by impure atoms.