Development of a novel processing technique for cold-rolled Al-3 Mg aluminum alloys via athermally-enhanced electrical annealing

Abstract

In this study, we proposed an alternative to the conventional warm forming processing for the softening of hard cold-rolled Al-3 wt% Mg aluminum alloys to improve formability. A novel processing technique was proposed via athermally-enhanced electrical annealing. The softening of the aluminum alloy to a maximum 48.2 % micro-hardness decrement at 158.5 °C was achieved via current-induced recrystallization at 4.0 × 104 A/cm2 and above for 1 h, as evidenced by the formation of strain-free equiaxial grains, the release of accumulated residual stress, the transformation of subboundaries and low-angle grain boundaries to high-angle grain boundaries, and the transformation of deformation texture to recrystallization texture. This study aims to provide a sustainable processing technique for the circular economy to achieve lower annealing temperature and energy consumption.