A method for retrieving temperature and microstructure dependent apparent yield strength for aluminium alloys

Materials constitutive behaviour at high temperature is dependent on both temperature and microstructure. This paper presents a method to retrieve the temperature and microstructure dependent apparent yield strength of 6XXX aluminium alloys from the reaction force-temperature curves measured at the centre of the gauge length of a cylindrical specimen. The specimen is clamped at both ends and subjected to a controlled thermal history via induction heating. The experimental procedure is based on the test setup proposed by Satoh to determine residual stresses in welds. Various effects on the accuracy of the method have been investigated, including the effect of heating rate, hardening and testing frame stiffness. Examples have been shown for the aluminium alloy 6082 in T6 temper condition.