Patent ID: 7018489
Filing Date: 2006-03-28
Classification: C22F

Abstract:
1. A method of artificially aging an aluminum alloy product to achieve a property in the product wherein the value of the property varies in response to aging, the method comprising: heating an aluminum alloy product over an aging period which includes a time period during which the product is in an underaged state and terminating the aging period when the property is achieved according to a mathematical formula evaluated for each temperature regime experienced by said product, wherein said mathematical formula is a time- and temperature-dependent expression of the property comprising at least two time-domain and temperature-domain evolving variables, and wherein the product is optionally age formed and, wherein the property is tensile yield strength and said time and temperature-domain evolving variables are X wherein X is a normalized value of strength and β is a constant for the alloy and X is solved from the following equations: wherein K x″ , K b″ , Q s , Q b , n s and n s are constants for the alloy.