Microstructures and mechanical properties of nano-structured aluminum fabricated by accumulative roll-bonding using different rolling methods

Abstract

Nano-structured aluminum was fabricated by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) process using different rolling methods. One is the ARB using conventional rolling (CR) in which the speed of two rolls (3.0m/min) was equal to each other. The other is the ARB using differential speed rolling (DSR) in which the speed of two rolls is different to each other. The roll peripheral speed of one roll was 2.0m/min and that of another roll was 3.6m/min. The roll speed ratio was kept at 1.8. The ARB was conducted up to 6 cycles at ambient temperature without lubrication. In both cases, the ultrafine grains were developed in the samples. The grains formed by the DSR-ARB were more equiaxed and finer than those produced by the CR-ARB. Tensile strength of the DSR-ARB processed sample was superior to that of the CR-ARB processed one. The elongation was not affected significantly by the number of ARB cycles in both cases. Texture analysis demonstrated that the shear strain, in the case of DSR-ARB, was introduced into the center of thickness. It was concluded that the DSR-ARB process was more effective for grain refinement and strengthening than the CR-ARB process.