Manipulating Samples for Failure

One project for my class, Failure Analysis, was to make identical-looking samples that actually behave in very different ways. My team casted three samples:

Can you spot the differences?

Well, one is heat treated 6061 aluminum, one is untreated 6061 aluminum, and one is cast aluminum.

We tested the hardness and tensile strength, to find varying values for each dogbone.

Mean Girls-01

Mean Girls-02

Mean Girls-18

Mean Girls-01

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