Enhanced Impact Toughness of 6082 Aluminum Alloy via Electromagnetic Shocking Treatment

To further improve the impact toughness of aged 6082 aluminum alloy, electromagnetic shocking treatment (EST) was applied to IHC (solution treatment + unidirectional compression + peak aging) samples. The mechanical properties and impact toughness of the IHC and EST samples were evaluated through room-temperature tensile tests and Charpy impact tests, respectively. The results indicate that, compared to the IHC samples, the EST samples exhibit higher tensile strength (an increase of approximately 9.4%), greater elongation, and significantly higher impact energy (an increase of approximately 26.5%). Microstructural characterization reveals that, compared to the IHC samples, the EST samples possess a lower dislocation density, a larger grain size, and shorter precipitates. Striped grain boundaries were observed in both IHC and EST samples, but they were considerably more pronounced in the EST samples. This indicates that more distinct interface wetting occurred in the EST samples, which promoted grain growth to some extent, a reduction in dislocation density, precipitate dissolution, and the occurrence of interface bridging. This paper primarily investigates the microstructural evolution within the alloy under EST and discusses how these microstructural changes influence the alloy’s performance, thereby providing a novel approach to enhancing the impact toughness of aluminum alloys.