Modelling the constitutive behaviour of aluminium alloy B206 in the as-cast and artificially aged states

The constitutive behaviour of the aluminium-copper casting alloy B206 has been investigated in both the as-cast and artificially aged states. For the as-cast material, a unified plastic flow stress model has been developed using experimental data acquired from compression tests performed using a Gleeble 3500 thermo-mechanical simulator. The unified model considers different constitutive models, each for a specific temperature interval, and the transition between these models at an intermediate temperature based on the material's strain rate sensitivity. For the artificially aged material, a linear-fit yield strength evolution model as a function of the heat treatment parameters has been developed using experimental data from tensile tests and hardness measurements. The yield strength model takes advantage of an independently developed microstructure model that specifically describes the precipitation kinetics of the material based on differential scanning calorimetry measurements. Evaluations of the developed models show good fits between the predicted strengths and data from experiments as well as the literature.