RESUMO
The Al-Mn alloy heat exchanger fin production process includes a brazing treatment at s high temperature of 600 °C, in which coarse grains are preferred for their high resistance to deformation at elevated temperatures by decreasing the grain boundary sliding. In this study, Al-1.57Mn-1.57Zn-0.58Si-0.17Fe alloy foils cold rolled by 81.7% (1.1 mm in thickness) and 96.5% (0.21 mm in thickness) were annealed at 100-550 °C for 1 h to investigate their recrystallization behavior, grain sizes, and precipitates by increasing the annealing temperature, using micro-hardness measurement, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The micro-hardness results showed that the recrystallization finishing temperatures for the two samples were almost the same, 323 ± 2 °C. The EBSD results showed that when the annealing temperature decreased from 550 to 400 °C, the recrystallized grain sizes of the two samples were nearly identical-both increased slightly. Further decreasing the annealing temperature from 400 to 330 °C caused the grain sizes to increase more, with the thinner foil sample having a more significant increase. The SEM and TEM observations showed that the micron-sized primary-phase remained unchanged during the annealing process. The nano-sized secondary phase precipitates formed during the hot-rolling process experienced a coarsening and dissolving process upon annealing. The particle size of the secondary phase increased from 32 nm to 44 nm and the area fraction decreased from 4.2% to 3.8%. The nucleation analysis confirmed that the large primary-phase could act as a nucleation site through particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) mode. The relatively dense secondary phase precipitates with small sizes at lower temperatures could provide higher Zener drag to the grain boundaries, leading to fewer nuclei and thereafter coarser grains. The coarsening of the recrystallized grains in the foils could be implemented through thickness reduction and/or precipitation processes to form densely distributed nano-sized precipitates.
RESUMO
Embedded aluminum-steel composite sheets used in heat exchanger were produced by cold roll bonding (CRB). The influences of annealing temperature and annealing time on the microstructure and the bonding strength of the composite sheet were investigated. The recrystallization of the steel layer began at 525⯰C and finished at 600⯰C. With the increase of the annealing temperature, the peel strength of the composite sheet whose original steel sheet surface was treated by scratch brush initially increased and then decreased, which was resulted from the competition of the mechanical locking and metallurgical bonding. After annealing, the cracks which formed between the broken work-hardened steel surface layer and its matrix during cold roll bonding remained. The composite sheet produced by CRB with the steel surface treatment of flap disc had less interfacial defects, higher bonding quality, higher diffusion rate of Al and Fe atoms at the interface and larger metallurgical bonding extent than the composite sheet produced by CRB with the steel surface treatment of scratch brush under the same conditions of annealing, which was helpful to shorten annealing time, reduce energy consumption and improve production efficiency.
