On the recovery and recrystallization which attend static softening in hot-deformed copper and aluminum

Abstract The fundamental nature of the static restoration processes which result in static softening after a hot deformation has been studied in copper and aluminum. The kinetics of static softening were determined using the double-hit technique applied to hot compression while the microstructural changes were characterized by the quantitative metallography of quenched specimens. A static softening parameter based on the area under the compression flow curve was used to describe the static softening kinetics. The static softening curves exhibited a simple sigmoidal shape showing no inflection. The relative softening occurring prior to the initiation of recrystallization was found to be small when compared with that occurring after the onset of recrystallization, and was dependent on deformation temperature, amount of deformation, purity and stacking fault energy. The static softening was related to the fractional recrystallization in a nonlinear manner; the degree of nonlinearity was dependent on the occurrence of recovery and dynamic recrystallization. The recrystallization process in Al was of the classical type with the nucleation stage being either the boundary bulge or subgrain growth mechanism. In Cu twinning appeared to be the major nucleation mechanism for recrystallization. When the applied prestrain was greater than the critical strain for dynamic recrystallization, recrystallization was observed to be completed before the completion of static softening. In this case, the remaining softening occurred by the operation of multiple recrystallization where high-order twins formed in the already twinned regions.