Deformation processes in hot worked copper and α brass

Abstract

The generation of the fine grained, dynamically recrystallized microstructure has been studied in hot rolled copper and α brasses and in 70:30 brass deformed by hot torsion. The new grains, which developed preferentially at grain boundaries and inhomogeneities of deformation, contained none of the deformation features present in unrecrystallized parts of the microstructure. This observation is contrary to theories of dynamic recrystallization which imply that the microstructure contains a spectrum of grains ranging from just recrystallized to severely deformed. Texture studies showed cold rolled textures at low rolling temperatures but in the case of copper the texture became quite flat after rolling at 350 and 425 °C. Flat textures were associated with a minimum grain size. At higher rolling temperatures the textures were again typical of cold rolled material. It is suggested that while normal slip processes are operating at all temperatures there is an additional contribution from grain boundary deformation processes associated with fine grained microstructures. Such processes would account for the absence of normal deformation features from dynamically recrystallized microstructures.