Cast Aluminum alloy heat treatment

[tz350g]

I'm looking for a good book on how to heat treat Aluminum and Magnesium alloys. I've found a mention to "Metallurgy of the Light Alloys" but haven't been able to find a copy local to have a look at it before I purchase. I'm starting to reproduce some vintage (late 70's early 80's) motorcycle aluminum castings and I've found some good info/books for the pattern making and foundry part but am having trouble with the proper heat treat of the resulting cast parts. Most of the parts will be petrobond sand cast A356 and I'd like to heat treat to a T6 for most parts but may want to use T7 for some of the parts that need to be more stable but not as heavily loaded. It would be nice if it included Magnesium alloys too, as I have several magnesium castings that need repair and I'd like to weld in the annealed state and then reheat treat. Any suggestions?
Regards,
Brad H

 

[vesselfab]

i know nothing of aluminum castings, but I wanted to caution you, you probably allready know, about the low flash point of magnesium. Not hard to weld, but you have any dust from routing (we route not grind) picked up and away from work station as any spark can set it off.

 

[metengr]

tz350g;
I would go to the web site below and browse for either a specific book related to Aluminum and Magnesium alloys or review one of the ASM Handbooks for heat treatment of Al and Mg alloys. There are excellent reference books on this subject.

http://asmcommunity.asminternational.org/portal/site/asm/

 

[CoryPad]

I recommend the following free documents:

MIL-H-6088 HEAT TREATMENT OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS

MIL-M-6857 MAGNESIUM ALLOY CASTINGS, HEAT TREATMENT OF

available from ASSIST:

http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/

They are a little old, but not much has changed. If you want more in-depth information (and more recent), then try ASM Handbook Volume 4 Heat Treating, available from the link in metengr's post.

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[tz350g]

Thank you all for the info.

Best Wishes,

Brad