Differences in microstructure and texture of Al–Mg sheets produced by twin-roll continuous casting and by direct-chill casting

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the use of aluminum sheets in automotive applications has increased. Aluminum sheets are currently produced from direct-chill (DC) cast plates. The need for low-cost aluminum sheets is a challenge for the development of new materials produced by twin-roll continuous (TRC) casting and cold rolling. It is expected that the sheets produced from these different casting procedures can differ in their microstructure. Therefore, they can exhibit different formability behavior. The paper presents the results of the microstructural characterization and texture evaluation of aluminum sheets produced by both technologies. Sheets produced from twin-roll cast materials have much finer and more numerous second-phase particles, the grain structures of both types of materials are similar. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction techniques were used for texture evaluation and both confirmed the presence of stronger cube texture in the strips produced from DC-cast plates.