Controlling the Microstructural Evolution During Soft Annealing of Cold Rolled Twin-Roll Cast AlMnMg Alloys by Homogenization Heat Treatment

In this study, the effects of homogenization heat treatment and amount of cold rolling prior to soft annealing on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of cold rolled twin-roll cast AlMnMg alloy (3005) after soft annealing were investigated. For this purpose, homogenization annealing was carried out on as-cast strips and after cold rolling with an equivalent strain of 0.34 by single-step and two-step annealing processes. And then homogenized samples were cold rolled with two different equivalent strains and back annealed at different temperatures. Results show that homogenization annealing leads to lower recrystallization temperature and formation of finer as well as quasi-equiaxed grains through particle-stimulated nucleation mechanism after soft annealing. Two-step homogenization annealing provides further decrease in recrystallization temperature when compared to single-step homogenization heat treatment.