Al-Mn alloys containing similar amounts of solutes but various dispersoid densities were cold rolled. The grain subdivision and micro-texture were examined by electron backscatter diffraction and orientation imaging microscopy. Macro-texture was measured by X-ray diffraction. It is found that a high density of fine dispersoids enhances the development of the copper and S textures at large strains (~3), and also induces a higher fraction of high-angle grain boundaries. At smaller strains, the texture and high-angle grain boundaries are not evidently influenced by the density of dispersoids. It is suggested that the texture evolution, which is enhanced by dispersoid pinning effect, contributes to the grain subdivision and the formation of high-angle grain boundaries.

A novel thermomechanical processing was developed for producing fine grained Al-Mg-Li alloy sheets. The influences of static recrystallization annealing on the grain structure and superplastic behavior were investigated. The results show that the refined microstructure has a variation in the distribution of grain size, shape and texture across the normal direction of the sheet. The surface layer (SL) has fine, nearly equiaxed grains with a rotated cube_ND {001}á310？ orientation, whereas the center layer (CL) has coarse, elongated grains with a portion of α fiber orientation. Increasing static recrystallized temperature results in grain growth in the full thickness, decreasing of grain aspect ratio in the center layer, texture sharpening in the surface layer, but weakening in the center layer as well as decreasing of superplastic elongation. Increasing the annealing temperature also produces an sharpening of the rotated cube {001}á310？ component and a decreasing of the α fiber texture in the full thickness of the sheet. The formation mechanisms of recrystallization texture at various temperatures and layers were discussed.

The microstructural evolution of banded 5A90 Al-Li alloy during superplastic deformation at 475 °C with an initial strain rate of 8×10^-4 s^-1 was studied using EBSD technique. The results showed that, before deformation, the grain shape appeared to be banded, the most grain boundaries belonged to low-angle boundaries, and the initial sheet had a dominate of {110}á112？ brass texture. During deformation, there were grain growth, grain shape change, misorientation increasing and textural weakening. The fraction of high-angle boundaries increased rapidly once the flow stress reached the peak value. Corresponding deformation mechanism for various stages of deformation was suggested. Dislocation activity was the dominant mechanism in the first stage, then dynamic recrystallization occurred, and grain rotation was expected as an accommodation for grain boundary sliding (GBS). At large strains, GBS was the main mechanism.

Development of inhomogeneous deformation is an interest matter in material engineering. Synchrotron radiation tomography provides 3D distribution map of local strain in polycrystalline aluminum alloy by tracking microstructural features. To perform further deep analysis on development of inhomogeneous deformation, crystallographic grain orientation is necessary. Three-dimensional X-ray diffraction technique was developed. A new crystallographic orientation measurement method was described in 3D space, utilizing grain boundary tracking (GBT) information.

In recently years, environmental problems, such as global warming and exhaustion of fossil fuels, have grown into serious problems. In the automakers, the development of the fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen as clean energy has been paid attention to. Aluminum alloys have already been applied to a liner material of a high-pressure hydrogen tank for fuel cell vehicles. However, the behavior of hydrogen in aluminum alloys has not been clearly elucidated yet. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the hydrogen behavior in aluminum alloys. Hydrogen microprint technique (HMPT) has been known as an effective measure to investigate the hydrogen behavior. In the present study, the emission behavior of internal hydrogen on a tensile-deformed Al-9%Mg alloy was investigated by HMPT at room temperature. As a result, the hydrogen was emitted at some grain boundaries.

The Al-Zn eutectoid alloy has been widely known as a typical superplastic metallic material, where fine-grained microstructure is usually obtained by heat treatment. Recently, thermo-mechanical controlled process has also been reported to provide a fine-grained microstructure. In the present study, Al-Zn alloy ingots of 20 mm in thickness were homogenized and hot-rolled to a thickness of 2 mm under three processes: 1) the specimen was air-cooled after homogenization and hot-rolled; 2) the specimen was water-quenched after homogenization and hot-rolled; 3) the specimen was immediately hot-rolled after homogenization. Microstructural observation showed that, in processes 1 and 3, lamellar microstructure was formed after homogenization, and became fragmented to fine-grained microstructure as the hot rolling process proceeded. In process 2, fine-grained microstructure without lamellar microstructure was attained throughout the hot-rolling process. A minimum grain size of 1.6 μm was obtained in process 3. Tensile tests at room temperature showed that the elongation to failure was the largest in process 3.

Directional solidification of Al-15% (mass fraction) Cu alloy was investigated by in situ and real time radiography which was performed by Shanghai synchrotron radiation facility (SSRF). The imaging results reveal that columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) is provoked by external thermal disturbance. The detaching and floating of fragments of dendrite arms are the prelude of the transition when the solute boundary layer in front of the solid-liquid interface is thin. And the dendrite triangular tip is the fracture sensitive zone. When the conditions are suitable, new dendrites can sprout and grow up. This kind of dendrite has no obvious stem and is named anaxial columnar dendrites.

The effects of sub-grain boundaries on the quenching sensitivity and the precipitation behavior in Al-7.01Zn-1.26Mg- 1.43Cu alloy were investigated by an end-quenching test. Specimens were solution treated at 440 °C and 480 °C to get different recrystallization fractions, respectively. The results show that the maximum hardness value of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy can be improved by the sub-grain boundaries, but the depth of age-hardening layer decreases significantly. The precipitation temperature and the activation energy are reduced by the changes of surface energy, which is induced by sub-grain boundaries. So, the precipitation process from η′ phase to η phase becomes much easier. In this way, an increase in the number of sub-grain boundaries promotes the precipitation of MgZn₂ particles, especially η′-MgZn₂.