Best known as a structural alloy, it’s usually used for machining in plate form. The alloy has similar physical characteristics to the 6061 alloy, but has slightly higher mechanical properties in the -T6 condition. As such it has replaced the older, traditionally-used alloy 6061 in all sorts of applications, made much stronger by the large amount of manganese it contains, which in turn helps strengthen the metal’s grain structure.
Alloy 6082, on the other hand, isn’t really suitable for extruding complicated or thin-walled shapes, simply because the resulting surface finish is nowhere near as smooth as other similarly strong alloys in the 6000 series. What about the T6 and T651 temper? Under these circumstances the alloy machines well and produces nice, tight swarf coils when you use chip breakers.
The alloy is common across Europe and gaining traction in the USA, where it’s often used for rod and bar machining stock, custom / structural profiles and seamless tubing. It also offers good finishing, responding well to anodizing by clear, colour dye and hardcoat methods. And it can also be tempered using solution heat treatment to age it artificially to create 6083T6.
What is Aluminium 6082 used for?
6082 is often used in applications where there’s a lot of stress, for trusses, bridges, cranes and transport applications as well as more prosaic uses like milk churns and beer barrels.
Can you weld it? Yes, you can!
6082 displays excellent weldability as long as you bear in mind it loses strength at the welding zone. You should use alloy 4043 wire to weld the material to itself and alloy 5356 wire if you want to weld 6082 to 7005. Weld resistance is good. Gas and Arc welding both perform perfectly well. Plus you can braze and solder aluminium 6082. What about fabrication? Its cold workability and machinability are reliably good, too.
What designations and specs does aluminium 6082 meet?
Alloy 6082 meets a variety of designations and specifications: ISO Al Si1MgMn, AA6082, HE30, EN AW-6082, A96082 and DIN 3.2315.
This particular alloy is usually supplied as Channel, Angle, Tee, Square bar, Square box section, Rectangular box section, Flat bar, Tube and Sheet, as well as 6082-T651 in the form of extrusions, plate, aluminium bars (from 20mm to 200m diameter) , a wide variety of sheet thicknesses and all manner of tube.
Chemical composition
Alloy 6082 contains 0.4 to 1% Manganese, 0 to 0.5% iron, 0.6 to 1.2% magnesium, 0.7 to 1.3% silicon, 0 to 0.1% copper, 0 to 0.2% zinc, 0 to 0.1% titanium and 0 to 0.25% chromium.
To learn more about Aluminium 6082 check this link.
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