Microstructure and texture evolution in cryorolled Al 7075 alloy

The present work investigates the microstructure and texture evolution of cryorolled Al 7075 alloy using FE-SEM, TEM, and neutron diffraction, respectively. The solution treated bulk Al 7075 alloy is subjected to rolling at liquid nitrogen temperature to produce sheets with different thickness reductions such as 35%, 50%, 70%, and 90%, respectively. It is evident from the microstructural characterisations of cryorolled samples that with the increasing deformation strain induced in the materials, the grains are fragmented and produce high amount of dislocation density due the suppression of dynamic recovery. The texture analysis of the cryorolled Al 7075 alloy has shown that the ideal fibres observed in the starting solution treated alloy has been destroyed during rolling. The Goss/Brass orientation of the cryorolled Al alloy is shifting towards the Brass components with increasing deformation strain induced in the samples. The orientation distribution functions of the cryorolled Al 7075 alloy clearly indicate the progressive weakening of the texture components, during cryorolling, with increasing strain, therefore, fragmentation and reorientation of micron sized grains occurs easily for the formation of subgrains and ultrafine-grained microstructures as evident from EBSD and TEM micrographs. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.