Uphill Quenching to Reduce Residual Stress in Aluminium Alloy 7449 Hollow Structures

Background: Uphill quenching (UHQ) of heat treatable aluminium alloy components is a long established but rarely practiced or investigated method of reducing residual stresses. The efficacy of the technique has not been quantified on thin walled structures before and this investigation will address that deficiency. Objective: To quantify the impact of uphill quenching on thin walled structure with regards to residual stress and warpage, and compare and contrast to both quenching into cold water and a 30% polyalkylene glycol (PAG) solution. Methods: Rectilinear hollow boxes were made from the very high strength aerospace aluminium alloy 7449. These were heat treated and aged using a variety of processing methods including uphill quenching from -196 °C to 100 °C using steam. Residual stresses have been characterised using neutron and x-ray diffraction. Results: Compared to conventional quenching into cold water, both PAG and UHQ are shown to significantly lower the residual stresses. However, while PAG quenching results in a large uniform reduction in both residual stress and warpage, UHQ is much more localised and limited to regions adjacent to direct steam impingement. These regions are also warped. The depth of penetration of the stress relief during UHQ is shown to be 5 mm. Conclusions: While uphill quenching is shown to be capable of locally stress relieving an aluminium alloy, it is far less effective compared to PAG quenching.