Microstructure and texture of a nano-grained complex Al alloy fabricated by accumulative roll-bonding of dissimilar Al alloys.

An ultrafine grain (UFG) complex lamella aluminum alloy sheet was successfully fabricated by ARB process using AA1050 and AA6061. The lamella thickness of the alloy became thinner and elongated to the rolling direction with increasing the number of ARB cycles. By TEM observation, it is revealed that the aspect ratio of UFGs formed by ARB became smaller with increasing the number of ARB cycles. In addition, the effect of ARB process on the development of deformation texture at the quarter thickness of ARB-processed sheets was clarified. ARB process leaded to the formation of the rolling texture with shear texture and weak cube orientation. The subdivision of the grains to the rolling direction began to occur after 3 cycles of the ARB, resulting in formation of ultrafine grains with small aspect ratio. After 5 cycles, the ultrafine grained structure with the average grain diameter of 560 nm develops in almost whole regions of the sample.