Texture Development in Aluminum Alloys with High Magnesium Content

The evolution of texture in the AlMg6Mn0.7 (1565 ch) alloy throughout the entire cycle of its thermomechanical treatment has been studied. Using this alloy as an example, a new way is shown to control the texture development, which is applicable to alloys with high magnesium content. An integrated approach is applied, including optical and electron microscopy, as well as X-ray diffraction analysis, the determination of mechanical properties and texture modeling using algorithms of the crystallographic plasticity theory. All stages of the thermomechanical treatment have been studied, namely the development of the deformation structure out of the as-cast structure in the reversing hot-rolling stand, continuous hot rolling, cold rolling and final recrystallization annealing. The study showed that second phase particles are the main source of recrystallization nuclei at all stages of high temperature thermomechanical treatment. The importance of these particles increases when the Zener-Hollomon parameter increases. To obtain the maximum possible proportion of a random texture, thermomechanical processing must be carried out at high Zener-Hollomon parameters. However, the temperature should not interfere with the complete recrystallization process at the same time. After cold rolling and recrystallization annealing at temperatures equal or greater than 350 °C, a large proportion of random texture is formed, and the properties of the metal are almost isotropic.