TEXTURE EVOLUTION DURING PLANE-STRAIN DEFORMATION OF ALUMINUM

Plane strain forming in commercial processes commonly includes elevated temperature multi-step reductions. An understanding of microstructural development during this process is critical because it dictates the properties of the material subsequent to hot forming. Earing behavior, formability, and mechanical response of the final product are all dependent upon the processing parameters which dictate microstructural evolution. The present work focuses upon the development of hot deformation textures in aluminum during this type of processing. Commercial purity aluminum specimens exhibiting two different starting textures were deformed in channel die compression experiments to simulate the plane strain deformation conditions imposed by the rolling mill. Initial structures consisted of a randomly textured material and a preferentially cube orientated texture to investigate the effects of starting texture on hot deformation processing and the resulting microstructures. Rate and temperature dependence of texture evolution was experimentally and theoretically investigated in conjunction with this. The relative stability of cube orientations within polycrystals deformed in plane strain is demonstrated for certain deformation conditions. Finally, experimental observations of the evolution of orientation flow from the alpha to the beta fiber are discussed.