with an appreciable amount of magnesium (the 5xxx series).

Heating to 225#F
to 350#F [110#C to 180#C] causes all the softening to occur at once and, thus,
is used as the stabilization heat treatment.
Before tempering, alloys begin in the annealed condition, the weakest but
most ductile condition. Tempering, while increasing the strength, decreases
ductility and, therefore, decreases workability.
Strain hardening is achieved by mechanical deformation of the material at
ambient temperature. In the case of sheet and plate, this is done by reducing
its thickness by rolling. As the material is worked, it becomes resistant to
further deformation and its strength increases.
Two heat treatments can be applied to annealed condition, heat treatable
alloys. First, the material can be solution heat treated. This allows soluble
alloying elements to enter into solid solution; they are retained in a
supersaturated
state upon quenching, a controlled rapid cooling usually performed
using air or water. Next, the material may undergo a precipitation heat treatment,
which is also called artificial aging. Here, constituents are precipitated
from solid solution to increase the strength. An example of this process is
the production of 6061-T6 sheet. From its initial condition, 6061-O annealed
material is heat treated to 990#F [530#C] as rapidly as possible (solution heat
treated), then cooled as rapidly as possible (quenched), which renders the
temper T4. The material is then heated to 320#F [160#C] and held for 18
hours (precipitation heat treated); upon cooling to room temperature, the temper
is T6.
Solution heat treated aluminum may also undergo natural aging. Natural
aging, like artificial aging, is a precipitation of alloying elements from solid
solution, but because it occurs at room temperature, it occurs much more
slowly (over a period of days and months rather than hours) than artificial
aging. Both aging processes result in an increase in strength and a corresponding
decrease in ductility. Material that will be subjected to severe forming
operations, such as cold heading wire to make rivets or bolts, is often
purchased in a T4 temper, formed, and then artificially aged or allowed to
naturally age. Care must be taken to perform the forming operation before
too long a period of time elapses, or natural aging of the material will cause
it to harden and decrease its workability. Sometimes T4 material is refrigerated
to prevent natural aging if cold forming required for fabrication into a
product, such as a fastener or a tapered pole, will not be performed shortly
after solution heat treatment.
The temper designation system is the same for both wrought and cast
alloys, although cast alloys are only heat treated and not strain hardened, with
the exception of some 85x.0 casting alloys. The temper designation follows
the alloy designation, the two being separated by a hyphen, for example,
5052-H32. Basic temper designations are letters. Subdivisions of the basic
tempers are given by one or more numbers following the letter.
The basic temper designations are: