Effect of processing parameters on the formability of recycle friendly AA5754 alloy
AA5xxx series Al-Mg alloys possess good combination of high specific strength-to-weight ratio, formability and corrosion resistance, which makes them attractive to the automakers for their light weighting needs. Increasingly the automakers are demanding sustainable materials. Developing aluminum alloys with increased recycled content is becoming imperative. However, increasing the recycled content can negatively impact the overall formability and joinability of the alloy. Formability is important in the shaping of complex parts and it is a key requirement in automotive manufacturing. Similarly, the other key requirement for automotive sheet is joinability. Self-piercing riveting (SPR) technology is increasingly being used for joining. In this study, the process optimization of high recycle content AA5754 alloy’s for formability and rivetability will be discussed. Controlling the annealing heat treatment to produce optimum combination of grain size along with balanced recrystallized and rolling texture to improve the SPR joint configuration will be presented.