Effect of heat treatments before cold rolling on microstructure and mechanical properties of 6016-T4P aluminum alloy sheet

The effects of solution and over-aging treatments before cold rolling on the mechanical properties and microstructure of 6016-T4P aluminum alloy sheet were investigated by tensile testing, electron back scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscope. The results showed that the sheet prepared by solution treatment before cold rolling had higher ductility, strength and planar anisotropy, finer grain size and more homogeneous low angle grain boundaries distribution compared with the sheet prepared by over-aging treatment before cold rolling. In addition, over-aging treatment before cold rolling could weaken the intensity of recrystallization texture and change the type of recrystallization texture of 6016-T4P sheet, leading to the change of yield strength in diffe-rent directions and the decrease of plane anisotropy.