Polynomial vs. Mechanism-Based Response Surface Analysis of the Thermomechanical Treatment of Al-Sn Alloys
The effects of strain, annealing time and temperature during the processing of an Al-Sn-based triboalloy were researched by response surface analysis. A second-degree polynomial in strain-time-temperature space was compared to a formulation based on generally accepted physical models for recrystallisation, recovery and grain growth, using the rule of mixtures for a microstructure consisting of recovered, recrystallised and second-phase grains. The polynomial approach provides interesting information on the role of rolling reduction in the optimisation of the alloy. The mechanism-based approach yields higher precision with less fitting parameters and provides insight into the relative importance of the physical phenomena involved in the processing of an alloy which has rarely been studied from the viewpoint of physical metallurgy.