The Effect of Strain Path on the Recrystallisation of an Aluminium Manganese Alloy

Abstract

The strain path undergone by a material can have a significant influence on the deformation behaviour, recrystallisation kinetics, grain size and crystallographic texture. To study the influence of strain path, samples of an aluminium-1%manganese alloy have been subjected to a number of strain path changes. These have been achieved using combinations of plane strain and free compression to give strain paths of 0, 90, and 180°. The development of the dislocation substructure resulting from each stage of deformation was studied using Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Following deformation annealing was carried out to determine the effects of the strain path changes on the recrystallisation kinetics and grain size. Results have shown that the strain path angles cannot be used to satisfactorily describe the material behaviour when mixtures of deformation modes are used.