Tempered aluminum

I am making some oil line out of 6061-T0 aluminum since it is easy to bend. Should I get it tempered to make the material stiffer? What is tempering for anyway?

Thanks, George

 

Tempered would tend to break or split because it's harder

 

The "T" is for heat treat, not tempered. A temper designation would be an "H" or "F". The "0" after the T designator means it's not heat-treated. Once the metal or line is formed, it should be removed and heat treated to a T4 or T6. How you would do that I don't know. If it's a low pressure line you're probably ok. FYI, going from a T0 to a T6 would about double the strength. The Ultimate Tensile Strength is: T0 = 17,000 psi, T4 = 33,000 psi. T6 = 42,000 psi.

BTW, if a alloy is T0, after heat-treating it becomes a T42, or a T62 (T4 & T6 respectivly) When it doesn't come from the manfacture already as a T4 or T6.

Tempering also increases the strength, but it's value is set at the manafacturing level. As far as I know the only thing that's adjustible is the heat-treating.

I'm not an expert, this is all from a big book we have at work for fixing broke stuff.

 

Thanks for the reply. What is the name of the book?

George

 

Aircraft SRM (Structural Repair Manual)

 

George

PS: What do you do?

 

Tempering is a form of heat treatment. Here is some information
about tempering as it applies to steel: "Heat Treatment of Steel".

Here is some about the material in question: "Heating Treating Aluminum Alloys"

Since the material is easy to work, it must be fairly new or it has
recently been annealed.

Aluminum hardens with age. When it does, annealing it [simplistically
stated: heating it with an acetylene torch adjusted to produce a
carburizing flame (sooty)] softens the aluminum, making it easier to
work with again. Besides softening material to improve mechanical
workability, another reason for annealing might be to relieve stresses
induced during welding and bring the material back to a 'dead soft'
(T0) condition prior to re-tempering.

Disclosure: I am not an expert, either.

Can I ask whether 'easy to bend' is your only criteria for choosing
aluminum over steel for the oil lines? I am sure that Al is used widely
for oil piping in environments with the same or greater vibration and
other hazards - aviation comes to mind. But I anticipate that in those
applications the Al is subjected to routine scrutiny and maintenance
above/beyond what the typical enthusiast might apply.

For peace of mind, a bender and steel tubing would be high on my agenda.

.