Investigation of microstructure and texture evolution of a Mg/Al laminated composite elaborated by accumulative roll bonding

The microstructure and texture of an Al1050/AZ31/Al1050 laminated composite fabricated by accumulative roll bonding at 400 °C up to 5 cycles are investigated using Electron BackScatter Diffraction, neutron diffraction, microhardness measurements and tensile tests. EBSD analysis has shown that ARB processing led to microstructural refinement with equiaxed grain microstructure in AZ31 layers and to the development of elongated grains parallel to the rolling direction in Al 1050 layers. No new phases formed at the bond interface after the first ARB cycle while Mg17Al12 and Mg2Al3 phases appeared after subsequent cycles. During the ARB processing, a typical strong basal (0002) texture is observed in AZ31 layers along with a weak rolling texture showed in Al 1050 layers with a dominant Rotated Cube {001}〈110〉 component. The microhardness of Al1050/AZ31/Al1050 laminated composite increased with increasing ARB cycles and almost saturated after five ARB cycles. The yield strength and ultimate strength increased gradually between 1 and 3 ARB cycles due to the strain hardening and grain refinement. They decreased with further increasing of the ARB cycles because of crack and failure of the MgxAly intermetallic compounds which developed during 4th and 5th ARB cycles. The deformation behavior of the laminated composite becomes rather similar to the behavior of AZ31 alloy that underwent a dynamic recrystallization during processing. •Formation of Mg17Al12 and Mg2Al3 phases was obtained near the interface after 2 ARB cycle.•The average grain size of AZ31 layers was about 0.8 μm after 5 ARB cycles.•The Al 1050 layers contain elongated grains parallel to rolling direction.•A typical strong basal (0002) texture has been observed in AZ31 layer.•A weak rolling texture showed in Al 1050 layer with domination of Rotated Cube.