Effect of Heat Treatments on the Mechanical Properties of Some Selected Metals (Al, Cu & Zn)

Heat treatment is a very important practice in metal working and fabrications as it plays a very serious role in affecting the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of such metals.This study investigated the effect of heat treatments on the mechanical properties of some metals which are Aluminum, Copper and Zinc.There are several heat treatment methods used but this study considered just the normalizing and quenching methods of heat treatment.The chemical composition of the samples investigated were first checked through a PMI test and then the tensile strength and hardness of the metals were measured.The results revealed that the samples of the materials used were almost in their pure forms as the percentage of impurities present were quite negligible.Also, it was discovered that the quenching method was more effective for copper while normalizing method was more effective for zinc.On the other hand, the both methods were not favourable in the improvement of the mechanical properties of Aluminum.