High-formability Al alloy sheet produced by asymmetric rolling of strip-cast sheet

The feasibility of producing high-strength/high-formability Al alloy sheets using a technique that combines twin-roll strip casting and asymmetric rolling is reported. An Al alloy sheet with the nominal composition of Al–1.0Si–0.6Mg (in wt%) produced in this study exhibited an excellent formability ( r ¯ =1.20, and Δr=0.17) and mechanical properties (σTS∼265 MPa, ε∼35%), which cannot be feasibly obtained via the conventional technique based on direct-chill (DC) casting and repetitive rolling. The structural origin of the enhanced formability was explored by examining the evolution of textures associated with the strip casting and subsequent thermo-mechanical treatments and interpreted using the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) model.