Aluminium tempers and conditions

Aluminium Tempers and Conditions

The hardness and strength of a finished grade of aluminium can be determined by the final heat treatment process. The aluminium temper / condition is usually defined by a series of letters and numbers immediately after the grade, for example 6082 T6 .

Extrusion tempers are defined by their thermally treated designation beginning with ‘T’ and flat products are either ‘O’ or begin with ‘H’.

  • O - Annealed (fully soft)
  • H - Strain Hardened / Cold Worked

  • HX xx
    • 1 = Cold Work Hardened Only
    • 2 = Cold Work Hardened and partially annealed
    • 3 = Cold Work hardened and stabalised by heat treatment
  • HxX x
    • 8 = Fully Hard
    • 6 = 3/4 Hard
    • 4 = 1/2 Hard
    • 2 = 1/4 Hard
    • 1 = Just harder than 'O'

  • T - Thermally Treated
    • T4 = Naturally aged (soft)
    • T5 = Cooled and artifically aged
    • T6 = Artifically aged

You can find more specific grade realted information by referring to our datasheets.