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Twin-roll casting (TRC) is an advantageous substitution for Direct-Chill (DC) casting in the manufacturing of rolled aluminium products. The results of a study of the phase transformations and their interaction with recrystallization occurring during the annealing of TRC Al-Mn based alloys are reported. Four alloys with different contents of Mn, Si and Fe were investigated. Precipitation was studied by resistometric measurements in the course of a heating at linear rate. The microstructural processes responsible for the observed changes in resistivity were identified by TEM examinations of quenched specimens. The changes in the microstructure and solute content during homogenisations at 450°C and 610°C were monitored by conductivity and hardness measurements and polarised light microscopy. It was elucidated that the temperature and kinetics of phase transformations are influenced not only by the content of Mn, but also by Si content. In alloys with low Si content, the decomposition of solid solution and the transformation of primary phases occur in much larger temperature range than in the alloys with high Si content. The precipitation of Mn and Si, concurrent to recrystallization, was observed to retard the latter, especially in alloys with high Mn and Si content.

Accumulative roll bonding (ARB) allows producing ultrafine-grained sheets of high strength and has been successfully used to prepare such materials from aluminium alloys. However, due to intensive work hardening of bond-rolled AlMg3 sheets, significant edge cracking occurred. Cracking was reduced by cladding AlMg3 with aluminium. Lamellar composites were thus prepared. Their structure was studied by electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy; hardening was evaluated by microhardness measurements and tensile tests. Composite grain sizes are coarser than in the mono-material sheets. Accordingly, the evolution of strength with ARB-cycling in both materials differs. AlMg3 composite layers exhibit less work hardening than the mono-material; the composite strength is between that of the two mono-material ARB-sheets while the ductility does not differ substantially.