Microstructure analysis of aluminum extrusion: Prediction of microstructure on AA6060 alloy

An experimental–numerical procedure for predicting the recrystallized structure in aluminum extrusion is presented here, altogether with its validation. The whole plan is carried out in three steps: in the first step, the evolution of microstructure of an AA6060 alloy during deformation was studied by means of small-scale laboratory test, the processing parameters being chosen in order to reproduce the typical industrial conditions. In the second step, the analysis of microstructure evolution after the heat treatment (550 °C for 30 min and 180 °C for 10 h) was analyzed, the obtained informations being used in order to fit a recrystallization model to be implemented inside the Deform FEM code environment. Finally, in the third step, the obtained informations are applied to extrusion tests presented in another papers by the authors (Schikorra, M., Donati, L., Tomesani, L., Tekkaya, A.E. 2007a. Microstructure analysis of aluminum extrusion: grain size distribution in AA6060, AA6082 and AA7075 alloys, J. Mech. Sci. Technol. 21, 1445–1451); the simulation results are compared and discussed with the experimental grain size distribution analyzed on the extruded rest.