Effects of Sc and Zr microalloying additions on the recrystallization texture and mechanism of Al–Zn–Mg alloys

•Investigate texture evolution of Al–Zn–Mg/Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloys during annealing.•Discuss the recrystallization mechanisms of Al–Zn–Mg/Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloys.•Establish a recrystallization nucleation model.•Calculate orientation-dependent stored energies. Effects of Sc and Zr microalloying additions on the recrystallization texture and mechanism during annealing were investigated in detail by the methods of X-ray diffraction macrotexture measurements and electron backscattering diffraction local orientation observations in three kinds of Al–Zn–Mg cold rolled sheets (Al–Zn–Mg, Al–Zn–Mg–0.10wt.%Sc–0.10wt.%Zr and Al–Zn–Mg–0.25wt.%Sc–0.10wt.%Zr). The results show that the texture of the three cold rolled alloys all consists of cube and rolling orientations. During recrystallization annealing in the conventional Al–Zn–Mg alloy, rolling texture gradually weakens and finally disappears and cube texture is the dominant recrystallization texture. The nucleation mechanism of the Al–Zn–Mg alloy is cube nucleation. For Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloys, with the increase of Sc and Zr contents and annealing temperatures, the intensity of rolling texture β-fiber increases. Rolling texture is dominant in the recrystallized Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy. The main microstructural features of the Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy during annealing are that lots of disperse, coherent and nano-scaled Al3(Sc, Zr) particles strongly pin dislocations and grain/sub-grain boundaries, inhibiting the occurrence of recovery and recrystallization. The microstructural observation results show that S and Brass orientations are the preferred nucleation orientations in the Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy. To calculate the orientation-dependent stored energies, a recrystallization nucleation model was established, based on a standard Read–Schockley equation. The calculated results show that S and Brass orientations have higher stored energies. The nucleation mechanism of the Al–Zn–Mg–Sc–Zr alloy is high stored energy nucleation.