AA1050/AA6061/AA1050 layered sheet was fabricated by cold roll-bonding process and subsequently T4 and T6 aging-treated. Two commercial AA1050 sheets of 1 mm thickness and one AA6061 sheet of 2 mm thickness were stacked up so that an AA6061 sheet was located between two AA1050 sheets. After surface treatments such as degreasing and wire brushing, they were then roll-bonded to a thickness of 2 mm by cold rolling. The roll-bonded Al sheets were then processed by natural aging (T4) and artificial aging (T6) treatments. The as roll-bonded Al sheets showed a typical deformation structure, where the grains are elongated in the rolling direction. However, after the T4 and T6 aging treatments, the Al sheets had a recrystallized structure consisting of coarse grains in both the AA5052 and AA6061 regions with different grain sizes in each. In addition, the sheets showed an inhomogeneous hardness distribution in the thickness direction, with higher hardness in AA6061 than in AA1050 after the T4 and T6 age treatments. The tensile strength of the T6-treated specimen was higher than that of the T4-treated one. However, the strength-ductility balance was much better in the T4-treated specimen than the T6-treated one. The tensile properties of the Al sheets fabricated in the present study were compared with those in a previous study.

Changes in the microstructure and mechanical properties of as-roll-bonded AA6061/AA5052/AA1050 threelayered sheet with increasing annealing temperature were investigated in detail. The commercial AA6061, AA5052 and AA1050 sheets with 2 mm thickness were roll-bonded by multi-pass rolling at ambient temperature. The roll-bonded Al sheets were then annealed for 1 h at various temperatures from 200 to 400 °C. The specimens annealed up to 250 °C showed a typical deformation structure where the grains are elongated in the rolling direction in all regions. However, after annealing at 300 °C, while AA6061 and AA1050 regions still retained the deformation structure, but AA5052 region changed into complete recrystallization. For all the annealed materials, the fraction of high angle grain boundaries was lower than that of low angle grain boundaries. In addition, while the rolling texture of the {110}<112> and {123}<634> components strongly developed in the AA6061 and AA1050 regions, in the AA5052 region the recrystallization texture of the {100}<001> component developed. After annealing at 350 °C the recrystallization texture developed in all regions. The as-rolled material exhibited a relatively high tensile strength of 282 MPa and elongation of 18 %. However, the tensile strength decreased and the elongation increased gradually with the increase in annealing temperature. The changes in mechanical properties with increasing annealing temperature were compared with those of other three-layered Al sheets fabricated in previous studies.

This research investigated how adding Sb (0.75, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 wt%) to as-extruded aluminum alloys affected their microstructure, mechanical properties, electric and thermal conductivity. The addition of Sb resulted in the formation of AlSb intermetallic compounds. It was observed that intermetallic compounds in the alloys were distributed homogenously in the Al matrix. As the content of Sb increased, the area fraction of intermetallic compounds increased. It can be clearly seen that the intermetallic compounds were crushed into fine particles and homogenously arrayed during the extrusion process. As the Sb content increased, the average grain size decreased remarkably from 282.6 μm (0.75 wt%) to 109.2 μm (5.0 wt%) due to dynamic recrystallization by the dispersed intermetallic compounds in the aluminum matrix during the hot extrusion. As the Sb content increased from 0.75 to 2.0 wt%, the electrical conductivity decreased from 61.0 to 59.8 % of the International Annealed Copper Standard. Also, as the Sb content increased from 0.75 to 2.0 wt%, the ultimate tensile strength did not significantly change, from 67.3 to 67.8 MPa.

A cold roll-bonding process is applied to fabricate an AA6061/AA5052/AA6061/AA5052 layered sheet. Two AA6061 and one AA5052 sheets of 2mm thickness, 40mm width and 300mm length are alternately stacked, then reduced to a thickness of 2.0 mm by multi-pass cold rolling after surface treatment such as degreasing and wire brushing. The rolling is performed at ambient temperature without lubricant using a 2-high mill with a roll diameter of 400 mm at a rolling speed of 6.0 m/sec. The roll-bonded AA6061/AA5052/AA6061/AA5052 layered sheet is then hardened by natural aging (T4) and artificial aging (T6) treatments. The microstructure of the as-roll bonded and the age-hardened Al sheets was revealed by SEM observation; the mechanical properties were investigated by tensile testing and hardness testing. After T4 and T6 aging treatment, the specimens had a recrystallization structure consisting of coarse equiaxed grains in both AA5052 and AA6061 regions. The as-roll-bonded specimen showed a clad structure in which the hardness of AA5052 regions was higher than that of AA6061 regions. However, after T4 and T6 aging treatment, specimens exhibited different structures, with hardness of AA6061 regions higher than that of AA5052 regions. Strengths of T6 and T4 age-treated specimens were found to increase by 1.55 and 1.36 times, respectively, compared to the value of the starting material.

A cold roll-bonding process using AA1050, AA5052 and AA6061 alloy sheets is performed without lubrication. The roll-bonded specimen is a multi-layer complex aluminum alloy sheet in which the AA1050, AA5052 and AA6061 sheets are alternately stacked. The microstructural evolution with the increase of annealing temperature for the roll-bonded aluminum sheet is investigated in detail. The roll-bonded aluminum sheet shows a typical deformation structure in which the grains are elongated in the rolling direction over all regions. However, microstructural evolution of the annealed specimen is different depending on the type of material, resulting in a heterogeneous microstructure in the thickness direction of the layered aluminum sheet. Complete recrystallization occurs at 250 oC in the AA5052 region, which is lower by 100K than that of the AA1050 region. Variation of the misorientation angle distribution and texture development with increase of annealing temperature also differ depending on the type of material. Differences of microstructural evolution between aluminum alloys with increase of annealing temperature can be mainly explained in terms of amounts of impurities and initial grain size.

Effects of Sc addition on microstructure, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the as-cast and as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5 wt%) alloys are investigated. The average grain size of the as-cast Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg alloy is 2,334 μm; however, this value drops to 914 and 529 μm with addition of Sc element at 0.25 wt% and 0.5 wt%, respectively. This grain refinement is due to primary Al3Sc phase forming during solidification. The as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg alloy has a recrystallization structure consisting of almost equiaxed grains. However, the asextruded Sc-containing alloys consist of grains that are extremely elongated in the extrusion direction. In addition, it is found that the proportion of low-angle grain boundaries below 15 degree is dominant. This is because the addition of Sc results in the formation of coherent and nano-scale Al3Sc phases during hot extrusion, inhibiting the process of recrystallization and improving the strength by pinning of dislocations and the formation of subgrain boundaries. The maximum values of the yield and tensile strength are 126 MPa and 215 MPa for the as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-0.25Sc alloy, respectively. The increase in strength is probably due to the existence of nano-scale Al3Sc precipitates and dense Al2Cu phases. Thermal conductivity of the as-cast Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc alloy is reduced to 204, 187 and 183 W/MK by additions of elemental Sc of 0, 0.25 and 0.5 wt%, respectively. On the other hand, the thermal conductivity of the as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc alloy is about 200 W/Mk regardless of the content of Sc. This is because of the formation of coherent Al3Sc phase, which decreases Sc content and causes extremely high electrical resistivity.

A commercial AA1070 alloy for electrical wire is severely deformed by drawing process in which a rod with an initial diameter of 9mm into is reduced to a wire of 2mm diameter. The drawn AA1070 wire is then annealed at various temperatures from 200 to 450 oC for 2h. Changes in microstructure, mechanical properties and electrical properties of the specimens with annealing temperature are investigated in detail. The specimen begins partially to recrystallize at 250 oC; above 300 oC it is covered with equiaxed recrystallized grains over all regions. Fiber textures of {110}<111> and {112}<111> components are mainly developed, and {110}<001> texture is partially developed as well. The tensile strength tends to decrease with annealing temperature due to the occurrence of recovery or/and recrystallization. On the other hand, the elongation of the annealed wire increases with the annealing temperature, and reaches a maximum value of 33.3 % at 300 oC. Electric conductivity of the specimens increases with annealing temperature, and reaches a maximum value of 62.6%IACS after annealing at 450 oC. These results are discussed in comparison with those for the other aluminum alloy.

The annealing characteristics of cold-rolled Al-6.5Mg-1.5Zn-0.5Fe-0.5Mn alloy, newly designed as an automobile material, are investigated in detail, and compared with those of other aluminum alloys. Using multi-pass rolling at room temperature, the ingot aluminum alloy is cut to a thickness of 4 mm, width of 30 mm, and length of 100 mm to reduce the thickness to 1 mm (r = 75 %). Annealing after rolling is performed at various temperatures ranging from 200 to 500 oC for 1 hour. The specimens annealed at temperatures up to 300 oC show a deformation structure; however, from 350 oC they have a recrystallization structure consisting of almost equiaxed grains. The hardness distribution in the thickness direction of the annealed specimens is homogeneous at all annealing temperatures, and their average hardness decreases with increasing annealing temperature. The tensile strength of the as-rolled specimen shows a high value of 496 MPa; however, this value decreases with increasing annealing temperature and becomes 338MPa after annealing at 400 oC. These mechanical properties of the specimens are compared with those of other aluminum alloys, including commercial 5xxx system alloys.

A powder-in-sheath rolling method is applied to the fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforced copper composite. A copper tube with outer diameter of 30 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm is used as sheath material. A mixture of pure copper powder and CNTs with a volume content of 3 % is filled in a tube by tap filling and then processed to an 93.3 % reduction using multi-pass rolling after heating for 0.5 h at 400 oC. The specimen is then sintered for 1h at 500 oC. The relative density of the 3 vol%CNT/Cu composite fabricated using powder in sheath rolling is 98 %, while that of the Cu powder compact is 99 %. The microstructure is somewhat heterogeneous in width direction in the composite, but is relatively homogeneous in the Cu powder compact. The hardness distribution is also ununiform in the width direction for the composite. The average hardness of the composites is higher by 8Hv than that of Cu powder compact. The tensile strength of the composite is 280 MPa, which is 20 MPa higher than that of the Cu powder compact. It is concluded that the powder in sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of sound CNT reinforced Cu matrix composites.

A cold roll-bonding process is applied to fabricate an AA6061/AA5052/AA6061 three-layer clad sheet. Two AA6061 and one AA5052 sheets of 2 mm thickness, 40 mm width, and 300 mm length are stacked, with the AA5052 sheet located in the center. After surface treatment such as degreasing and wire brushing, sample is reduced to a thickness of 1.5 mm by multi-pass cold rolling. The rolling is performed at ambient temperature without lubricant using a 2-high mill with a roll diameter of 400 mm at rolling speed of 6.0 m/sec. The roll bonded AA6061/AA5052/AA6061 complex sheet is then hardened by natural aging(T4) and artificial aging(T6) treatments. The microstructures of the as-roll bonded and age-hardened Al complex sheets are revealed by optical microscopy; the mechanical properties are investigated by tensile testing and hardness testing. After rolling, the roll-bonded AA6061/AA5052/AA6061 sheets show a typical deformation structure in which grains are elongated in the rolling direction. However, after T4 and T6 aging treatment, there is a recrystallization structure consisting of coarse equiaxed grains in both AA5052 and AA6061 sheets. The as roll-bonded specimen shows a sandwich structure in which an AA5052 sheet is inserted into two AA6061 sheets with higher hardness. However, after T4 and T6 aging treatment, there is a different sandwich structure in which the hardness of the upper and lower layers of the AA6061 sheets is higher than that of the center of the AA5052 sheet. The strength values of the T4 and T6 age-treated specimens are found to increase by 1.3 and 1.4 times, respectively, compared to that value of the starting material.

The annealing characteristics of a cold rolled Al-6.5Mg-1.5Zn alloy newly designed as an automobile material is investigated in detail. The aluminum alloy in the ingot state is cut to a thickness of 4 mm, a total width of 30 mm and a length of 100 mm and then reduced to a thickness of 1 mm (reduction of 75%) by multi-pass rolling at room temperature. Annealing after rolling is performed at temperatures ranging from 200 to 400 ℃ for 1 hour. The tensile strength of the annealed material tends to decrease with the annealing temperature and shows a maximum tensile strength of 482MPa in the material annealed at 200 ℃. The tensile elongation of the annealed material increases with the annealing temperature, while the tensile strength does not, and reaches a maximum value of 26 % at the 350 ℃ annealed material. For the microstructure, recovery and recrystallization actively occur as the annealing temperature increases. The recrystallization begins to occur at 300 ℃ and is completed at 350 ℃, which results in the formation of a fine grained structure. After the rolling, the rolling texture of {112}<111>(Cu-Orientation) develops, but after the annealing a specific texture does not develop.

Effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties through thickness of a Cu-3.0Ni- 0.7Si alloy processed by differential speed rolling are investigated in detail. The copper alloy with a thickness of 3 mm is rolled to a 50 % reduction at ambient temperature without lubricant and subsequently annealed for 0.5 h at 200-900 oC. The microstructure of the copper alloy after annealing is different in the thickness direction depending on the amount of the shear and compressive strain introduced by the rolling; the recrystallization occurs first in the upper roll side and center regions which are largely shear-deformed. The complete recrystallization occurs at an annealing temperature of 800 oC. The grain size after the complete recrystallization is finer than that of the conventional rolling. The hardness distribution of the specimens annealed at 500-700 oC is not uniform in the thickness direction due to partial recrystallization. This ununiformity of hardness corresponds well to the amount of shear strain in the thickness direction. The average hardness and ultimate tensile strength has the maximum values of 250 Hv and 450 Mpa, respectively, in the specimen annealed at 400 oC. It is considered that the complex mode of strain introduced by rolling directly affects the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the annealed specimens.

Effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties through thickness of a cold-rolled Cu-3.0Ni-0.7Si alloy were investigated in detail. The copper alloy with thickness of 3 mm was rolled to 50 % reduction at ambient temperature without lubricant and subsequently annealed for 0.5h at 200~900 oC. The microstructure of the copper alloy after annealing was different in thickness direction depending on an amount of the shear and compressive strain introduced by rolling; the recrystallization occurred first in surface regions shear-deformed largely. The hardness distribution of the specimens annealed at 500~700 oC was not uniform in thickness direction due to partial recrystallization. This ununiformity of hardness corresponded well with an amount of shear strain in thickness direction. The average hardness and ultimate tensile strength showed the maximum values of 250Hv and 450MPa in specimen annealed at 400 oC, respectively. It is considered that the complex mode of strain introduced by rolling effected directly on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the annealed specimens.

In this study, an Al-0.7wt%Fe-0.2wt%Mg-0.2wt%Cu-0.02wt%B alloy was designed to fabricate an aluminum alloy for electrical wire having both high strength and high conductivity. The designed Al alloy was processed by casting, extrusion and drawing processes. Especially, the drawing process was done by severe deformation of a rod with an initial diameter of 12 mm into a wire of 2 mm diameter; process was equivalent to an effective strain of 3.58, and the total reduction in area was 97 %. The drawn Al alloy wire was then annealed at various temperatures of 200 to 400 °C for 30 minutes. The mechanical properties, microstructural changes and electrical properties of the annealed specimens were investigated. As the annealing temperature increased, the tensile strength decreased and the elongation increased. Recovery or/and recrystallization occurred as annealing temperature increased, and complete recrystallization occurred at annealing temperatures over 300 °C. Electric conductivity increased with increasing temperature up to 250 °C, but no significant change was observed above 300 °C. It is concluded that, from the viewpoint of the mechanical and electrical properties, the specimen annealed at 350 oC is the most suitable for the wire drawn Al alloy electrical wire.

The cold rolling workability and mechanical properties of two new alloys, designed and cast Al-5.5Mg-2.9Si and Al-7Mg-0.9Zn alloys, were investigated in detail. The two alloy sheets of 4 mm thickness, 30 mm width and 100 mm length were reduced to a thickness of 1 mm by multi-pass rolling at ambient temperature. The rolling workability was better for the Al-7Mg-0.9Zn alloy than for the Al-5.5Mg-2.9Si alloy; in case of the former alloy, edge cracks began to occur at 50% rolling reduction, and their number and length increased with rolling reduction; however, in the latter alloy, the sheets did not have any cracks even at higher rolling reduction. The mechanical properties of tensile strength and elongation were also better in the Al-7Mg-0.9Zn alloy than in Al-5.5Mg-2.9Si alloy. Work hardening ability after cold rolling was also higher in the Al-7Mg- 0.9Zn alloy than in the Al-5.5Mg-2.9Si alloy. At the same time, the texture development was very similar for both alloys; typical rolling texture developed in both alloys. These differences in the two alloys can primarily be explained by the existence of precipitates of Mg2Si. It is concluded that the Al-7Mg-0.9Zn alloy is better than the Al-5.5Mg-2.9Si alloy in terms of mechanical properties.

A cold roll-bonding process was applied to fabricate an AA1050/AA6061/AA1050 laminate complex sheet. Two AA1050 and one AA6061 sheets of 2 mm thickness, 40 mm width and 300 mm length were stacked up after surface treatment that included degreasing and wire brushing; material was then reduced to a thickness of 3 mm by one-pass cold rolling. The laminate sheet bonded by the rolling was further reduced to 1.2 mm in thickness by conventional rolling. The rolling was performed at ambient temperature without lubricant using a 2-high mill with a roll diameter of 210 mm. The rolling speed was 5.0 m/sec. The AA1050/AA6061/AA1050 laminate complex sheet fabricated by roll bonding was then hardened by natural aging T4) and artificial aging (T6) treatments. The microstructures of the as-roll bonded and the age hardened Al complex sheets were revealed by optical microscope observation; the mechanical properties were investigated by tensile testing and hardness testing. The strength of the as-roll bonded complex sheet was found to increase by 2.9 times compared to that value of the starting material. In addition, the hardness of the complex sheets increased with cold rolling for AA1050 and age-hardening treatment for AA6061, respectively. After heat treatment, both AA1050 and AA6061 showed typical recrystallization structures in which the grains were equiaxed; however, the grain size was smaller in AA6061 than in AA1050.

A roll-bonding process was applied to fabricate an AA1050/AZ91/AA1050 laminate complex sheet. Two AA1050 and one AZ91 magnesium sheets of 2 mm thickness, 30 mm width and 200 mm length were stacked up after surface treatment that included degreasing and wire brushing; material was then reduced to a thickness of 3 mm by one-pass cold rolling. The laminate sheet bonded by the rolling was further reduced to 2 mm in thickness by conventional rolling. The rolling was performed at 623K without lubricant using a 2-high mill with a roll diameter of 210 mm. The rolling speed was 15.9 m/min. The AA1050/AZ91/AA1050 laminate complex sheet fabricated by roll bonding was then annealed at 373~573K for 0.5h. The microstructure of the complex sheets was revealed by electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) measurement; the mechanical properties were investigated by tensile testing and hardness testing. The strength of the complex sheet was found to increase by 11 % and the tensile elongation decreased by 7%, compared to those values of the starting material. In addition, the hardness of the AZ91 Mg region was slightly higher than those of the AA1050 regions. Both AA1050 and AZ91 showed a typical deformation structure in which the grains were elongated in the

Effects of conventional rolling(CR) and differential speed rolling(DSR) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Cu-Ni-Si alloy were investigated in detail. The copper alloy with thickness of 3 mm was rolled to 50 % reduction at ambient temperature without lubricant with a differential speed ratio of 2:1. The conventional rolling in which the rolling speed of upper and lower rolls is identical was performed under identical rolling conditions. The shear strain introduced by the CR showed positive values at positions of upper roll side and negative values at positions of lower roll side. However, it showed zero or positive values at all positions for the samples rolled by the DSR. The microstrucure and texture development of the as-rolled copper alloy did not show any significant difference between CR and DSR. The tensile strength of the DSR processed specimen was larger than that of the CR processed specimen. The effects of rolling methods on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-rolled copper alloy are discussed in terms of the shear strain.

The effect of adding Ca on the microstructural and mechanical properties of as-cast Mg-11Li-3Zn-1Sn(wt%) alloys were investigated. Mg-11Li-3Zn-1Sn-0.4Mn with different Ca additions (0.4, 0.8, 1.2 wt%) were cast under an SF6 and Co2 atmosphere at 720 oC. The cast billets were homogenized at 400 oC for 12h and extruded at 200 oC. The microstructural and mechanical properties were analyzed by OM, XRD, SEM, and tensile tests. The addition of Ca to the Mg-11Li-3Zn-1Sn-0.4Mn alloy resulted in the formation of Ca2Mg6Zn3, MgSnCa intermetallic compound. By increasing Ca addition, the volume fraction and size of Ca2Mg6Zn3 with needle shape were increased. This Ca2Mg6Zn3 intermetallic compound was elongated to the extrusion direction and refined to fine particles due to severe deformation during hot extrusion. The elongation of the 0.8 wt% Ca containing alloy improved remarkably without reduction strength due to the formation of fine grain and Ca2Mg6Zn3 intermetallic compounds by Ca addition. It is probable that fine and homogeneous Ca2Mg6Zn3 intermetallic compounds played a significant role in the increase of mechanical properties.

A powder-in-sheath rolling method was applied to a fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforcedaluminum composite. A STS304 tube with an outer diameter of 34 mm and a wall thickness of 2 mm was used as asheath material. A mixture of pure aluminum powders and CNTs with the volume contents of 1, 3, 5 vol was filled inthe tube by tap filling and then processed to 73.5% height reduction by a rolling mill. The relative density of the CNT/Al composite fabricated by the powder-in-sheath rolling decreased slightly with increasing of CNTs content, but exhib-ited high value more than 98. The grain size of the aluminum matrix was largely decreased with addition of CNTs; itdecreased from 24 µm to 0.9 µm by the addition of only 1 volCNT. The average hardness of the composites increasedby approximately 3 times with the addition of CNTs, comparing to that of unreinforced pure aluminum. It is concludedthat the powder-in-sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of CNT reinforced Al matrix composites.