Effect of annealing temperature on the formability of Al–Mg4.5–Cu0.5 alloy sheets

Formability of Al–Mg4.5–Cu0.5 alloy sheets was tested after annealing at different temperatures (220–520 °C) and water quenching. The formability (normalized limiting dome heights, LDH/R) showed only a small variation for all the samples with recrystallized structure, i.e. the LDH/R–e2 curves were within ∼13% in the range of plane strain deformation. The samples annealed at 280 °C experienced a formability level at the upper limit of the band containing all the LDH/R values. The formability rating seems to be the result of the complex interaction of the strain hardening ability and strain rate sensitivity (SRS) due to different structural features developed during different annealing conditions.