Constitutive behaviour of A356 during the quenching operation

A collaborative research effort is underway between the University of British Columbia and Canadian Autoparts Toyota Inc. to develop a mathematical model to predict the formation of residual stress, and hence the deformation, in A356 cast aluminum wheels during the quenching operation. In order to produce an accurate thermal-stress model of the quenching operation, a detailed description of the constitutive behaviour of A356 is required in the solutionized condition. Unfortunately, most published constitutive data for A356 focuses on the final heat treated T6 condition. Therefore, an investigation was performed to determine the constitutive behaviour of A356 in the solutionized condition, prior to quenching and artificial aging. Uniaxial compression tests were performed over a range of temperatures (up to 500 °C) and strain-rates (from 10−3 to 1 s−1) encompassing those normally experienced during the quenching operation.