Computer-Aided TEM- and SEM-based individual orientation techniques for recrystalllzation studies in commercial aluminum alloys

Abstract

Commercial production of aluminum alloy sheet for beer and beverage cans critically depends on the control of plastic anisotropy which affects earing behavior. The final cold rolling texture is responsible for the 45° earing. Plastic anisotropy of the product is minimized by promoting the {001} <100> cube texture during upstream hot rolling and annealing. Hence, the origin of cube texture in light of the nucleation and growth aspects of the recrystallization process has been the subject of research for several decades. Since recrystallization is a local event, electron microscopy has been used in this investigation to shed light on its mechanism. In particular, computer-aided analysis of Kikuchi patterns from the TEM and Backscattered Kikuchi Patterns from the SEM have been used for studying the crystallographic nature of recrystallization nuclei and their orientation relationship to the deformed matrix from which they originate.