Continuous Heating of Aluminum Alloy 6082

You didn't state the temper state of your 6082 aluminum. This is critical to this discussion. Following comments relate to material at the commercially common T6 state.

The ASM Aluminum Handbook (1993) has a set of curves on page 313 figure 23c showing the yield strength of 6061 sheet as a function of time and temperature of aging. At about 300 hours and 200C the yield strength is down about 20% from its maximum of 37KSI (260MPa).

The handbook has little to say about 6082 except for a listing of the composition. The primary difference from alloy 6061 is that in 6082 manganese takes the place of the copper in 6061. One could expect the behavior of 6082 to be somewhat similar. However, if your application is critical to safety or enterprise success you would be well advised to seek out data specific to 6082 from one of the aluminum companies or someone with professional metallurgical credentials.

To those of you mechanical engineers reading this I'd recommend seeking out the specific Aluminum Handbook curves I referred to above. This data has been of good use to me as a mechanical engineer a number of times in my career. It quickly settles arguments about how long the common 6000 series aluminum structures can be trusted to maintain their integrity at elevated temperatures.

Ed Weldon