Experimental investigations on microstructure and formability of cryorolled AA 5052 sheets

In this paper the effect of cryorolling on tensile and forming behaviour of aluminium alloy (AA) 5052 sheets has been investigated and compared with room temperature rolling of the same. These sheets were rolled up to 50% reduction in thickness at two different temperatures, namely, room and cryogenic temperatures, and compared. The combined forming and fracture limit diagram has been drawn and compared for AA 5052 alloy sheets of both rolling conditions. The formability results obtained for the room temperature rolled (RTR) and cryorolled (CR) conditions have been correlated with tensile properties. Cryorolled AA 5052 alloy with an elongated microstructure exhibited a very high percentage of necking strain during forming compared to the conventional forming limit diagram. This is due to the excessive cross-slip formed during deformation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.