Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AA1050/ AA6061/AA1050 Multi-Layer Sheet Fabricated by Cold Roll Bonding Process

A cold roll-bonding process was applied to fabricate an AA1050/AA6061/AA1050 multi-layer sheet. Three Al sheets in which an AA6061 sheet is inserted inside two AA1050 sheets of 2 mm thickness, 40 mm width and 300 mm length were stacked up after surface treatment, and the material was then reduced to a thickness of 1.0 mm by multi-pass cold rolling. The AA1050/AA6061/AA1050 laminate complex sheet fabricated by roll bonding was then hardened by a natural aging (T4) and an artificial aging (T6) treatments. The microstructures of the as-roll bonded and the age-hardened Al complex sheets were revealed by optical microscope and electron back scatter diffraction analysis, and the mechanical properties were investigated by tensile and hardness testing. The strength of the as-roll bonded complex sheet was found to increase by 2.6 times, compared to that value of the starting material. Both AA1050 and AA6061 showed a typical recrystallization structure in which the grains were equiaxed after heat treatment. However, the grain size was smaller in AA6061 than in AA1050