The effect of the initial rolling temperature on the microstructure evolution during and after hot rolling of AA6082

In this study, the importance of the initial rolling temperature on the microstructure evolution during and after hot rolling of AA6082 was investigated. A commercial Finite Element Analysis (FE) package FORGE3 was used to predict through thickness thermal and deformation history of AA6082 undergoing multi-pass hot rolling. A physical model based on dislocation density, subgrain size and misorientation was used to calculate the grain size evolution and the recrystallized volume fraction after hot working. To validate the simulation results, homogenization and hot rolling experiments were performed. Homogenization was carried out in an air circulating furnace at temperatures of 550 and 580°C. The homogenized samples were hot rolled in multipass process with different start temperature on a laboratory mill. The outputs from the simulation were compared with the experimental measurements.