AW 5754 H114 H12 Sheet

 5754 aluminum sheet is an Al-Mg series aluminum alloy with a magnesium content between 3.1% and 3.9%. This composition gives it two major advantages: excellent resistance to seawater corrosion, making it commonly used in ship hulls and offshore platform components; and good weldability and machinability, maintaining stable performance in stamping, bending, and TIG welding. H114 and H12 tempers are its two most common tempers.

5754 H12 aluminum

The core process of the aw 5754 h12 is "cold working + natural aging," resulting in an incomplete work-hardening state. The advantage of this process lies in its cost-effectiveness; strength can be increased through simple cold working, making it suitable for applications requiring a certain level of strength but with relatively low forming difficulty, such as ordinary automotive trim parts and appliance housings.

5754 H114

Compared to H12, the aw 5754 h114 process is more refined, with the core being "cold working + stabilizing annealing," a composite process of "controlled work hardening + stress relief." The purpose of this process is to minimize residual stress within the material while retaining some of the strength gained from cold working, and to adjust the grain structure, thereby optimizing the material's plasticity and formability.

The cold working deformation of the H114 state is similar to that of H12, but the addition of stabilizing annealing alters the material's internal state. The reduction in residual stress prevents cracking and warping during subsequent forming, while the refined grains allow for better flow during complex stamping processes, making it more suitable for high-precision, complex-shaped machining.

Key Differences

1. Strength

Because the H12 state has not undergone stabilizing annealing, the grain distortion caused by cold working is more fully preserved, resulting in a slightly higher tensile strength than the H114 state. Actual measurement data shows that the tensile strength of 5754-H12 is approximately 210-240 MPa, while that of the H114 state is 190-220 MPa. However, this strength difference is not significant, and both meet the requirements of medium-strength applications.

2. Plasticity

Plasticity is the most crucial difference between the two. The stabilization annealing process in the H114 temper increases the elongation of the material from 8%-12% in H12 to 12%-16%. This means that H114 aluminum sheets are less prone to cracking during complex processes such as bending and deep drawing, and can even handle bending requirements with small radii, while H12 aluminum sheets are more prone to ductile fracture under excessive deformation.

3. Residual Stress

During cold working, residual stress accumulates inside the material. If not eliminated, deformation and cracking may occur during subsequent processing or use. The H12 temper relies solely on natural aging to release some stress, resulting in higher residual stress.

In contrast, the low-temperature annealing of H114 effectively eliminates more than 80% of the residual stress. Therefore, the manufactured parts exhibit better dimensional stability over long-term use, making them particularly suitable for products with high precision requirements such as pressure vessels and instrument housings.

4. Application

Scenarios Based on the aforementioned performance differences, the application scenarios for the two types of materials also form a clear dividing line: the H12 temper, with its slightly higher strength and lower processing cost, is suitable for simple forming scenarios with low precision requirements, such as automotive door panel frames, ordinary decorative aluminum panels, and simple box bodies.

The H114 temper, on the other hand, wins with its excellent formability and dimensional stability, and is mostly used for complex stamped parts (such as automotive wheel hub covers and water tank covers), corrosion-resistant components for ships, pressure vessel heads, and precision parts that require secondary processing.

 

Original source: https://www.alsheetplate.com/a/aw-5754-h114-h12-sheet.html