Influence of thermomechanical processing on microstructure, texture evolution and mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy sheets

Influence of thermomechanical processing on the microstructure, texture evolution and mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy sheets was studied systematically. The quite weak mechanical properties anisotropy was obtained in the alloy sheet through thermomechanical processing optimizing. The highly elongated microstructure is the main structure for the hot or cold-rolled alloy sheets. H {001}〈110〉 and E {111}〈110〉 are the main texture components in the surface layer of hot-rolled sheet, while β-fibre is dominant in quarter and center layers. Compared with the hot-rolled sheet, the intensities of β-fibre components are higher after the first cold rolling, but H {001}〈110〉 component in the surface layer decreases greatly. Almost no deformation texture can be observed after intermediate annealing. And β-fibre becomes the main texture again after the final cold rolling. With the reduction of the thickness, the through-thickness texture gradients become much weaker. The through-thickness recrystallization texture in the solution treated sample only has cubeND {001}〈310〉 component. The relationship among thermomechanical processing, microstructure, texture and mechanical properties was analyzed.