Microstructural evolution of 2026 aluminum alloy during hot compression and subsequent heat treatment

2026 aluminum alloy was compressed in a temperature range of 300-450 °C and strain rate range of 0.01-10 s−1. The correlation between compression conditions and microstructural evolution after solution and aging heat treatment was investigated. It is found that the recrystallization and precipitation behavior after heat treatment are associated with the temperature compensated strain rate Z value during hot deformation. Under low Z parameter condition, a small quantity of fine recrystallized grains are formed, and the well formed subgrains with clean high-angle boundaries and coarse precipitates seem to be remained during heat treatment. Under high Z parameter condition, a large number of fine equiaxed recrystallized grains are produced, and a high dislocation density with poorly developed cellularity and considerable fine dynamic precipitates are replaced by the well formed subgrains and relatively coarse precipitates after heat treatment. The average recrystallized grain size after heat treatment decreases with increasing Z value and a quantitative relation between the average grain size and the Z value is obtained.