Heat Treating Aluminum
Have you dealt with shattered tools, bent frames, or warped aluminum equipment? One of our most requested value-added services is heat-treating aluminum castings, strengthening the metal and preventing equipment failure. When aluminum castings are heat treated, they are no longer susceptible to instability and low strength. Certain alloys can take up to 55 years without this process to stabilize castings’ properties and dimensions.
When choosing an aluminum foundry, you prioritize quality and care for detail. Every industry has individual demands for aluminum equipment, and each demand has its unique process and strategy to meet it. As your experts in metal casting, we can ensure that every piece of equipment you receive will be made to last and perform.
Our Range Of Heat Treatment Services
There are dozens of methods and classifications of heat treatment for cast aluminum products, and we offer the most useful and practical heat treatment for all of our castings.
T4
For Pieces To Be Welded
For cast aluminum products such as vehicle parts or industrial equipment pieces, the welding process after casting can lead to what amounts to overheat-treating – a light treatment allows for a safer and more consistent welding experience.
T5/T51
For Precision
Rather than a hard quench, this degree of treatment involves a low-heat bake that artificially ages the aluminum and slowly brings the temperature down, preventing distortions and warping. This is ideal for electronics, medical tools, and other precision equipment.
T6
Strength and Hardness
The T6 heat treatment is one of the most common hardening process treatments used for heavy-duty equipment. The high-heat bake is followed by quenching and finished with artificial aging – each step reinforcing the underlying structure of the metal.
T7/71/77
For Heat, Stress Resistance
Our highest temperature heat treatment allows complete and total precipitation of the alloyed materials. While this results in a slightly more brittle product, it allows your equipment to withstand extreme stress and temperatures, which is perfect for aeronautics and engine parts.
The Heat Treat Process, in Three Basic Operations
When you receive a heat treatment service, you get expert heating and cooling that manipulates your piece’s internal structure, re-aligning crystalline alloys to support and strengthen the material. Heat-treating aluminum builds on the already impressive strength-to-weight ratio.
When we heat treat your cast pieces, your parts and equipment are subjected to three separate processes. Heat treating aluminum is not complicated but very precise – each step requires the heat to be within a small range.
1. The first step is solution heat treatment. We heat your castings to just below the melting point and hold them there for a significant period of time. This allows alloying elements to enter into a solid solution and homogenize, creating a more stable and consistent piece than a simple pour.
2. Next, quenching freezes the trapped elements in place. We accomplish this by rapidly cooling the castings in heated water. This step includes straightening the castings on a flat surface—which is uncommon in most commercial heat treatment operations. This is how we go above and beyond the industry average.
3. Finally, we artificially age the aluminum castings. This step involves a longer bake at a relatively low temperature to stabilize the castings. When heat-treating aluminum, we take the time and effort to ensure your pieces contain no flaws or errors.
After heat-treating aluminum, we employ custom straightening fixtures and gauges to find and solve any warp issues that may have occurred during the casting or heat-treating process. If needed, our technicians will hand-straighten each casting using various techniques in combination with a flat-steel table, straight edges, and fixtures.
Boose Aluminum Meets Your Needs with Heat Treat & Straightening
You can see that we employ a variety of alloys and heat-treat methods at our aluminum foundry. We are a flexible, capable foundry with more than 100 years of experience casting and crafting high-quality aluminum castings. We use tried-and-true methods, the newest technologies, and the finest materials to provide leading results. That’s because at Boose Aluminum Foundry, what we cast matters.
When you choose an aluminum casting company for your equipment, don’t settle for anything less than the best – call us today and get the treatment that you deserve.
