Aluminum 6061 is one of the most common alloys of aluminum for general-purpose use. 6061 is a precipitation-hardened aluminum alloy, containing magnesium and silicon as its major alloying elements. It has good mechanical properties, exhibits good weldability, and is very commonly extruded.
General 6061 Characteristics and Uses: Excellent joining characteristics, good acceptance of applied coatings. Combines relatively high strength, good workability, and high resistance to corrosion; widely available. The T8 and T9 tempers offer better chipping characteristics over the T6 temper.
Applications: Aircraft fittings, bike frames, camera lens mounts, couplings, marines fittings and hardware, electrical fittings and connectors, hardware, hinge pins, brake pistons, hydraulic pistons, appliance fittings, valves and valve parts, etc.
Table 1 presents the mechanical, physical and thermal properties used in finite element analysis.
| Name | Value | Unit |
| Physical Properties | ||
| Density | 2.7 | g/cc |
| Mechanical Properties | ||
| Tensile Strength, Ultimate | 310 | MPa |
| Tensile Strength, Yield | 276 | MPa |
| Modulus of Elasticity | 68.9 | Gpa |
| Poisson Ratio | 0.33 | |
| Fatigue Strength | 96.5 (@5E8 Cycles) | MPa |
| Shear Modulus | 26 | GPa |
| Shear Strength | 207 | MPa |
| Thermal Properties | ||
| CTE, linear | 23.6 (@Temp. 20 to 100 C) | µm/m-°C |
| 22. 2 (@Temp. 20 to 300 C) | ||
| Thermal Conductivity | 167 | W/m-K |
| Melting Point | 582 – 651.7 | °C |
| Specific Heat Capacity | 0.896 | J/g-°C |
Note: These material specifications are taken from below references and used to perform the FEA. Please crosscheck material details before using for the analysis, the wrong material may results in huge deviation in FEA results.
References:
- http://www.matweb.com/index.aspx
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6061_aluminium_alloy