Effects of dislocation slip behaviour and second-phase particles on hot rolled texture of an Al-Cu-Mg alloy with a high Cu/Mg ratio

Abstract

Microstructure and texture development of Al–Cu–Mg alloy with a high Cu/Mg ratio were investigated during homogenisation and hot rolling by using OM, SEM, DSC, XRD and TEM. The results showed that the Brass texture intensity increased by 2.4 times after hot rolling (90% rolling reduction), when the proportion of the second-phase particles in an area fraction and average particle size decreased from 1.32% to 0.24% and from 7.49 to 5.71 µm before hot rolling, respectively. Large particles inhibited the activation of the {111}< 110 > slip system, which led to a decrease in texture intensity. When the reduction increased, the following activated slip systems and located area of slip traces were obtained: {111}< 110 > (at grain boundaries, 35% rolling reduction), {111} + {100}< 110 > (at local area of grains, 65% rolling reduction), and {111} + {110}< 110 > (in most grains, 90% rolling reduction). In addition, the amount of the slip system corresponding slip planes increased as the spacing of the slip traces per 200 nm gradually decreased, which helped enhance the intensities of Brass- and Copper-type textures.