Common metal aging

Metal aging is one of the most common methods to change the properties of metal alloys. Although many metals can change their properties by heating, quenching or work hardening, some metal alloys are specially formulated for aging. Aging can change the physical and aesthetic properties of alloys, making them have completely different characteristics from the unaged morphology.

Common metal aging

Metal aging is a process of metal alloy used for solution heat treatment, which can be carried out artificially or naturally. Natural aging runs through the whole life of metal alloys. During natural aging, supersaturated alloying elements in metal alloys form so-called metal precipitates. These precipitates hinder the dislocation in the metal, increase the strength and hardness of the metal alloy, and reduce its ductility. Artificial aging is a process used to accelerate the formation of precipitates in solution heat treated metal alloys, which is much faster than natural aging. The artificial aging process is to increase the temperature of solution heat treated metal alloy to make it lower than the recrystallization temperature, but high enough to accelerate the formation of precipitates. Once the precipitates of alloy elements reach the correct size, the metal alloy is cooled rapidly to prevent further changes of the precipitates.

What Types of Metals Can Be Aged?

There are many types of metal alloys whose physical properties can be changed by aging, as long as they are solution heat treatable:
aluminium
stainless steel
copper alloy
Other metal alloys
Aluminum: 2XXX, 6xxx and 7xxx series aluminum alloys are all ageable, and their strength in many different forms comes from artificial aging. 6061-T6 is one of the most common aging aluminum alloys. Magnesium silicide precipitates in -t6 morphology, which prevents dislocation and greatly increases its strength and hardness.
Stainless steel: 17/10p, 17/4ph (commonly referred to as 630 in the UK), and 17/7ph are some common stainless steel alloys. When they are properly aged, they have extremely high strength and hardness due to the precipitation of metal alloys in their structures.
Copper alloy: C17200 and c17300 are two commonly used copper beryllium alloys in industry. Copper is usually known for its softness and ductility. When appropriate alloying elements are added and appropriate aging techniques are used, copper can be quite hard, strong and brittle.
Other metal alloys: titanium, nickel and magnesium, as well as several other metals, can undergo aging treatment if their chemical composition contains alloying elements, so that they can be solution heat treated.

Overaging

In natural aging or artificial aging of a metal alloy, one problem is the so-called over aging. When the size of the precipitate changes, the execution of the aging process exceeds the point beneficial to the application. This usually results in a reduction in strength and hardness. Two common methods are welding or cold working metal. Care should be taken to determine whether the soluble heat treated metal needs to be artificially aged again, following one of these two processes to ensure that the required mechanical properties still exist.

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Common metal aging

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