Through-process modelling of aluminium alloys provides a rapid route to predict material response during processing and use. This allows fast exploration of the effect of compositional variations on properties and processing compared to traditional experimental testing. Understanding the impact of these variations is important in discerning the effect of the accumulation of so-called ‘tramp’ elements such as Fe, Cr, and Mn that can build up during recycling and are challenging to remove. Currently, high-impurity alloys collected from scrap are diluted with energy-intensive primary aluminium. As the aluminium industry moves to higher recycle fraction alloys a strategy must be found to accommodate higher concentrations of tramp elements. Through-process modelling can give insight into ways that the processing of these alloys may be modified to potentially negate negative impacts on final properties without the need for primary addition.

In this work, the through-process modelling framework PRO3^TM developed by Norsk Hydro is used to investigate lab-scale hot forgings of a standard 6110 aluminium alloy and an equivalent alloy with increased iron and silicon. Experiments on a dilatometer in loading mode are conducted, covering a range of testing temperatures and strain rates. Finite element modelling and targeted experiments subsequently provide comparisons on key parameters such as the subgrain size, recrystallisation, and age-hardening response between the model and experiment. The modelling framework developed is subsequently used to explore how processing steps such as homogenisation can be used to correct for the negative influences of increased Fe and Si.