Poor Aluminum quality

[IninefingersI]

Got a text from one of the contract shops we offload to. We had some 6061-T651 AMS-QQ-A-250/11 drop-shipped to him to make some parts he has delivered without issue numerous times. He said this stuff was so gummy, he couldn't get through a part without galling up. I tracked down the CofC and it was out of Russia.

 

[Milland]

Got a text from one of the contract shops we offload to. We had some 6061-T651 AMS-QQ-A-250/11 drop-shipped to him to make some parts he has delivered without issue numerous times. He said this stuff was so gummy, he couldn't get through a part without galling up. I tracked down the CofC and it was out of Russia.

View attachment 344648

I'd check any Ti parts coming out of Russia very carefully before using them in critical applications.

 

[dana gear]

You need to get the good stuff, recycled aluminum from the cleanup at Chernobyl.
Ya, I know they said they buried the stuff, All our Russian aluminum came with there unreadable test/grade paperwork. We always had are own testing done here in the states on large orders.
Semi reputable importer, but it did machine nice. But as I said before we are done with them.

 

[jscpm]

It's probably not tempered correctly, or tempered at all.

If you have a heat treatment vendor, you could have it re-tempered.

 

[SND]

Not too long ago I ordered a few sizes of 6061, mainly for in house stuff. It was mostly CAN/US stuff, then I got to the 1.5", bubble gum, looked at the cert, China. I took it right to the scrap yard to save anyone else the misery.
I also noticed most of the Aluminium sheet now comes from China, its been usable thankfully.
I've gotten a few pieces of Kaiser before that were pretty shitty too.

Last 2 years a lot of the stuff that used to be fairly consistently from one source, has all be turned over, never know what you're gonna get from where now with all the shortages and price increases or importers trying to find cheaper shit. Although some of the Taiwan 316 I got the last year is better than NAS stuff, bars are nice and straight and machines fine.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

Not too long ago I ordered a few sizes of 6061, mainly for in house stuff. It was mostly CAN/US stuff, then I got to the 1.5", bubble gum, looked at the cert, China. I took it right to the scrap yard to save anyone else the misery.
I also noticed most of the Aluminium sheet now comes from China, its been usable thankfully.
I've gotten a few pieces of Kaiser before that were pretty shitty too.

Last 2 years a lot of the stuff that used to be fairly consistently from one source, has all be turned over, never know what you're gonna get from where now with all the shortages and price increases or importers trying to find cheaper shit. Although some of the Taiwan 316 I got the last year is better than NAS stuff, bars are nice and straight and machines fine.

I think the crappy 6061 is better to use in a mill than a lathe. I could image what it was like when China first started infiltrating the aluminum market. A person not high up on the ladder or in experience goes to the department supervisor and says a 6061 job won't run worth a crap and his set-up crashed. The supervisor finds they have run that part without issues for the 10 years it repeated. Supervisor tells the poor guy, "your fired."

The first time I got garbage Chinese 6061 it was a late Friday afternoon delivery and my helper and I were going to run 24-7 on a CNC lathe for the weekend. By the time I figured out what the problem was as it was for a repeat job we just had to do our best. Turned a 2 minute part into a 6 minute one, it was a hot job and I paid a 12 hour shift at time and a half and a 12 hour shift at double time. I also told the kid he could stay the weekend at my place where the shop was and all food and drink were on me. The kid was 18, 6'8" and 300 pounds. I don't even want to think what the food and drink bill tacked on to the loss.

 

[john.k]

Learned something....half the Oz aluminium industry is owned by the same Russian oligarchs as the Russian industry..........what is disturbing about this,is Al is made here with very high taxpayer subsidies to be competitive .........there are also huge taxpayer subsidies on the huge aluminium hulls that become superyachts.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

Learned something....half the Oz aluminium industry is owned by the same Russian oligarchs as the Russian industry..........what is disturbing about this,is Al is made here with very high taxpayer subsidies to be competitive .........there are also huge taxpayer subsidies on the huge aluminium hulls that become superyachts.

I did not know super yachts had aluminum hulls, how thick are they?

 

[Plane Parts]

I assume you were running the same programs and the same taps. If you are having that kind of problem you need to get with the supplier and demand they test a few samples and send you the results. It sounds like they may have messed up the heat and given you a different material then specified.