The effect of heating rate on the softening behaviour of a deformed Al-Mn alloy with strong and weak concurrent precipitation

The interaction between recrystallization and concurrent precipitation is strongly dependent on the heating rate during annealing. In this study, the effects of heating rate on the grain structure, recrystallization texture and resulting mechanical properties upon annealing of a cold-rolled Al-Mn alloy under strong and weak concurrent precipitation conditions, resulting from different homogenization procedures, were investigated. It is clearly shown that increasing the heating rate leads to finer grain size, less elongated grain structure and reduced flow stress for both cases. In the case of strong concurrent precipitation, a sharp P-texture component is obtained after recrystallization, with its intensity decreasing with increasing heating rate. On the other hand, Cube is the major texture component when concurrent precipitation is weak, and its strength increases with increasing heating rate. The different effects brought about by the heating rate on the recrystallization texture of the two cases, which has not been addressed in the literature so far, are further discussed in view of the differences in precipitation behaviour.