Study of the Effects of Magnesium Content on the Mechanical Properties of Aluminium 6063 Extrudates

This research study focussed on how the mechanical properties - hardness, strength and ductility - of aluminium 6063 T5 extrudates get improved when the magnesium content of the extrudates is increased. The average hardness, yield strength and the percentage elongation of the extrudates produced by Alumex (Pvt) Ltd were taken as the reference values. Magnesium content was varied in the standard range of 0.45-0.9 wt% by introducing calculated amounts of pure Mg ingot (99.9% Mg). The hardness, yield strength and elongation of the samples which had different amounts of Mg in them were measured using a vickers hardness testing machine and a standard tensile testing machine. The experimental results obtained showed that the hardness and the yield strength of the samples increased and that their ductility decreased when their Mg contents were increased from 0.45% to 0.71%. However, it was observed that there was a general reduction in the hardness and yield strength, and a drastic reduction in the elongation of the samples when the Mg content was increased beyond 0.71%.