During forming, thickness reduction and thermal treatment affect the recrystallization and evolution of the crystallographic texture of metallic materials. The present study focuses on the consequences of rolling reduction of a widespread aluminum alloy with numerous automotive, marine and general-purpose applications, namely Al 5182. Emphasis is laid on the crystallographic texture and mechanical properties on both hot and cold-rolled semi-final products. In particular, a 2.8 mm-thick hot-rolled product was examined in the as-received condition, while two cold-rolled sheets, one 1.33 mm and the other 0.214 mm thick, both originating from the 2.8 mm material, were examined in both as-received and annealed (350 °C for 1 h) conditions. Electron back-scatter diffraction indicated the presence of a large percentage of random texture as well as a weak recrystallization texture for the hot-rolled product, whereas in the case of cold rolling the evolution of β-fiber texture was noted. In addition, tensile tests showed that both the anisotropy as well as the mechanical properties of the cold-rolled properties improved after annealing, being comparable to hot-rolled ones.
Texture evolution associated with the preferential recrystallization during annealing process in a hot-rolled near β titanium alloy