Characterization of grain microstructure development in the aluminum alloy EN AW-6060 during extrusion

The purpose of this work is the experimental investigation and statistical characterization of the grain microstructure and its development in aluminum alloys during hot extrusion. To this end, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data are utilized. Based on this data, properties like the grain morphology, mean grain size, or mean grain misorientation, can be derived with the help of data analysis and processing methods. In the current work, these are applied to the investigation and quantitative determination of the microstructural development in the aluminum alloy EN AW-6060 along a path in the center of a partly extruded billet. With increasing deformation, it is observed that the mean grain size continually decreases due to dynamic recrystallization (CRX). As expected, grain alignment along the extrusion direction tends toward 〈1 1 1〉 with increasing deformation, and misorientation tends to decrease.