Evolution of texture and microstructure during repeated shear deformation in aluminum 1100 alloy sheets

In order to investigate the effect of the repeated shear deformation (RSD) on the evolution of texture and microstructure, sheets of aluminum alloy AA1100 were deformed by consecutive cold pressings with grooved and flat dies. After two steps of cold pressing, the original shape of the sheet was preserved. Finite element method (FEM) simulations of the RSD technique indicated that the deformation during RSD is highly inhomogeneous throughout the deformed sample, in particular through the sample thickness. However, the FEM results showed that after one full cycle consisting of four steps of cold pressing the strain state at the center layer was close to simple shear. The work hardening reached saturation after two cycles of RSD. TEM microstructure analysis supported by EBSD local texture measurements showed that with increasing number of RSD cycles, the size of dislocation cells of ∼ 1.0 μm remained almost unchanged, while the orientation difference across the cell boundaries increased. RSD led to the formation of preferred orientations with 〈100〉//RD; the texture maximum was found at {023}〈100〉 in the sample deformed by more than three cycles. In order to understand the formation of stable orientations during RSD, the texture was simulated by the Taylor full constraint model using strain components extracted from the FEM calculations.