Microstructural Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Pure Aluminum upon Multi-Pass Caliber Rolling

Abstract

The paper presents the microstructure and mechanical property of pure aluminum (Al) fabricated by multi-pass caliber rolling at room temperature. The finite element modeling (FEM) simulation was performed to explore the changes in rolling force, effective stress and strain, and temperature under various rolling passes. As the number of rolling passes increased, the overall temperature, effective stress, and strain gradually increased, while the maximum rolling force decreased. In addition, due to the dynamic recrystallization (DRX), the average grain size reduced from 1 mm to 14 µm with the increase in rolling passes. The dislocation density increased and it gradually evolved into the high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs). Moreover, the initial cubic texture rotated to the brass component and finally changed to a mixture of Cube and Brass types. The highest tensile yield strength (TYS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation (El.) of caliber rolled pure Al (116 MPa, 135 MPa, and 17%, respectively) can be achieved after 13 rolling passes, which mainly attributed to grain refinement.