Effect of cold rolling on the formation and distribution of nanoclusters during pre-aging in an Al–Mg–Si alloy

The effect of high densities of dislocations on the formation behavior of two types of nano-scale clusters (nanoclusters), which are formed at room temperature or during pre-aging at ∼373 K in an Al–Mg–Si alloy, was investigated by atom probe tomography. Cold rolling was applied to modify the formation behavior and/or the characteristics of the nanoclusters and also the precipitation sequence, which involve both nanoclusters and a strengthening phase to improve the bake-hardening response. Nanoclusters formed during pre-aging tended to form along the dislocations. Cold rolling accelerated the preferential formation of the nanoclusters, whereas the number density of the nanoclusters decreased by cold rolling before pre-aging. However, the number density of the nanoclusters was considerably higher than that of the β″ phase. Cold rolling before pre-aging enhanced the age-hardenability the most compared with other processes such as the contemporary pre-aging process. It is considered that the nanoclusters along dislocations lead to the preferential transformation to the β″ phase and then the rapid growth of the β″ phase. The nanoclusters formed on dislocations are effective in improving the bake-hardening response for the duration of the bake-hardening process. The kinetics and the distribution of the nanoclusters were found to be affected by the dislocations which were induced by cold rolling.