Microstructure comparison of ZK60 alloy under casting, twin roll casting and hot compression

The microstructures of ZK60 alloy under conventional direct as-casting (DC), twin roll casting (TRC) and twin roll casting followed by hot compression (TRC-HC) were analyzed by optical morphology (OM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The deformation condition of hot compression is 350 °C, 0.1 s−1. The microstructural evolution under TRC-HC deformation followed by annealing at different temperatures and time was discussed. The results show that TRC provides more modified microstructure compared with DC. Twins are found in TRC processing; dynamic recrystallization (DRX), shear bands and twins are found in TRC-HC. A short annealing time has little effect on hardness, while during a long time annealing, it is found that low annealing temperatures increase the micro-hardness and high temperature decreases it.