Quote:
Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62
Aluminum is “aged” through either thermal induction or chemical treatment to induce hardening. Any heat treating company familiar with aluminum has the required furnaces to accomplish the task. Let’s look at 356T3 for instance. 356 is the alloy number; T3 indicates the aluminum was artificially “aged” to the T3 standard. ALL aluminum is T1 before “aging”. The normal heating/cooling cycles are what age aluminum. A wise builder will anneal any aluminum component BEFORE welding or machining it to insure uniform “aging” and hardness.
|
Thanks 62. I know of people who have repaired their heads so many times they became soft. Is there a limit to how many times aluminum can be annealed ? Or did they maybe become soft simply because they were not properly annealed ?
In my work I anneal band saw blades but it is done with a torch. Heat up the welded area and back the torch off in a circular motion until you see "chasing shadows" and let it cool to room temperature.