Nucleation of recrystallization in channel-die compressed Al single crystals

The nucleation of recrystallized grains in deformed, high-purity aluminium has been examined in relation to the microstructural heterogeneities in the form of shear bands (SBs). Low-temperature channel-die tests have been used to favour SB formation in single crystals with C{1 1 2}〈1 1 1〉 initial orientation, deformed at 77 K, and followed by the nucleation of recrystallization along these bands. The nuclei of the new grains formed along the band are systematically misoriented with respect to the orientations identified within the shear-banded material by 25–35° around the 〈1 1 1〉 axis. The author attempts to systematize, from the crystallographic point of view, the processes operating at the very early stages of the primary recrystallization of the metals with a high stacking fault energy.