Tailoring the Materials Properties with a Holistic Approach from Casting to Back Annealing

In twin-roll casting, materials with the same chemical composition may have different microstructural evolution and mechanical properties even if they undergo the same thermo-mechanical processes as they have different as-cast microstructures. Therefore, casting parameters play an important role in tailoring the properties of final product. In this study, the effect of as-cast microstructure of twin-roll cast AlFeMn alloy (8xxx) on microstructural and mechanical properties of cold rolled and soft annealed strips was examined. For this purpose, different sets of casting parameters were employed to obtain different as-cast microstructures and as-cast strips were processed with the same thermo-mechanical steps. Results show that as-cast microstructure has a strong influence on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of cold rolled and soft annealed samples. Presence of coarse grains on the surface after homogenization annealing encourages grain growth on surface during soft annealing and leads to lower Erichsen index and accordingly deficiencies in formability.