3D microband boundary alignments and transitions in a cold rolled commercial purity aluminum alloy

In the study of microband formation during plastic deformation of face centered cubic metals and alloys, two theories have been proposed regarding the orientations of their boundaries: (i) they are aligned parallel to crystallographic planes associated with dislocation glide (i.e. {111} planes in FCC metals), or (ii) they are aligned in accordance with the macroscopic stress state generated during deformation. In this study, high resolution 3D electron backscatter diffraction (3D EBSD) was used to investigate the morphology and crystallographic nature of microband boundaries within a 19 × 9 × 8.6 μm volume of a deformed grain in commercial purity aluminum cold rolled to 22% reduction. It was found that microband boundaries correspond to both theories of orientation. Additionally, a single surface may contain both crystallographic and non-crystallographic alignments. Misorientations across boundaries in the regions of microband triple junctions have been identified for both boundary alignments.