Electrical Conductivity Behavior of the Aluminum Alloy 2024 during Artificial Aging

Abstract

Precipitation-hardened aluminum alloys need to be heat treated to achieve the mechanical properties required for their application. The production of these materials can be optimized to make them more attractive and competitive comparing to other materials such as composites that have a growing and large market share in aeronautics field. One way to do this is by controlling the artificial aging of precipitation-hardenable aluminum alloys, such as the 2000 series Al-Cu alloys. These alloys can be monitored in real time by analyzing their conductivity behavior inside the furnace. The objective of this work is to evaluate the electrical conductivity behavior in real time of the 2024 alloy during the artificial aging at 190 °C. For this, analyses were made in order to assess the behavior of the microhardness curve by aging time and its microstructural characterization with thermal treatments in the times of 1 h to 9 h interrupted every 1 h. The results of the electrical conductivity versus hardness curve showed a significant correlation and indicate that this measure has great potential to be used as a tool to control the thermal treatment of aging.