Quantitative prediction of the mechanical properties of precipitation-hardened alloys with special application to Al-Mg-Si

Proper design of the heat treatments of metallic materials is crucial for creating a suitable microstructure resulting in the desired properties. In this paper, we present a multi-component simulation procedure for the quantitative prediction of yield strength, fracture strain, and fracture toughness of precipitation-hardened alloys, with special emphasis on Al-Mg-Si alloys. The procedure combines thermokinetic and micromechanical models, taking the microstructural information in terms of different populations of various second-phase particles into account. The predictions are compared to the results of experiments performed on AA6082 samples subjected to different artificial aging times, and good quantitative agreement is demonstrated.