Texture and Formability in Aluminum Alloy Sheets

Both the relation between recrystallization texture and anisotropic r-values and the correlation between the average r-value and limiting drawing ratio were investigated in mostly Al-Mg alloy sheets by changing various textures. Small amount of addition of iron to an Al-Mg alloy decreased cube orientation and increased R-orientation for cold rolled and annealed sheets. Such a textural change resulted in an increase of the average r-value. Warm rolling developed shear texture in the range from the sheet surface to a quarter thickness, and consequently led to a relatively high average r-value for the annealed sheets. It was also experimentally demonstrated that limiting drawing ratio increased with increasing average r-value. From these results, it is found that the existence of shear texture and the increase of R-orientation are effective in improving deep drawability.