Microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior of Mg/Al laminated composite sheet by novel corrugated rolling and flat rolling

Abstract AZ31B Mg/5052 Al laminated composite sheet with superior mechanical property and good sheet shape was fabricated by novel corrugated roll/flat roll corrugating rolling and flat roll/flat roll flat rolling (CFR) at elevated temperatures. The microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior variation of the composite sheet under CFR hot rolling condition were investigated by experimental and numerical simulation methods. The results show that first-pass corrugated rolling induces relatively high and inhomogeneous shear strain in the Mg side and various corrugated interface positions at a low reduction of 35%. It leads to significant grain refinement, outstanding basal texture modification as well as tensile twin activation Mg alloy, which perfectly coordinates the plastic deformation between hard-to-deform Mg and ductile Al and achieve the strong interface metallurgy bonding in Mg/Al sheet and also significantly improves the mechanical properties of Mg/Al composite sheet. The annealing before second-pass flat rolling causes the pronounced static recrystallization and grain growth of Mg alloy in corrugated-rolling Mg/Al sheet, and the formation of ~25 μm thick interfacial compound layer consisted of Mg17Al12 and Al3Mg2 two sublayers. Second-pass flat rolling with a reduction of 30% further imposes severe inhomogeneous shear deformation on the composite sheet, which results in the formation of a wave-shape three-dimensional bonding interface, and the interface compound layers cracking at peak and waist interface positions or fragmenting into well-aligned discrete particles to the bonding interface, in addition to substantial matrix microstructure refinement, texture modification and twin activation in Mg alloy. Such interface structure greatly enhances the interface bonding force of the Mg/Al composite sheet by the larger interface contact area, mechanical gearing effect as well as particle pinning effect. Hence the significant microstructural refinement, strong interface bonding and low residual stress induced by CFR process account for the excellent performance of the Mg/Al laminated composite sheet.