Microstructure and Properties of Multi-pass Continuous Extrusion 3003 Aluminum Alloy

The effects of continuous extrusion passes on the grain size and mechanical properties were studied.The influences of following annealing process on the microstructure of multi-pass continuous extruded 3003 aluminum alloy were also investigated.The results show that the grain size of 3003 aluminum alloy extruded by 3 passes is much smaller than that of only squeezed by 1 pass,and the mechanical properties also improve.However,more extrusion passes may result in the coarse grains in the following annealing treatment for the reason that the dynamic recrystallization occurs during the continuous extrusion processing.The alloy has fully recrystallized microstructure and the grains distribute more homogenously after annealing at 480 ℃ for 30 min.The recrystallization grain grows up significantly as the heating temperature increasing or annealing time prolonging.