Effects of Precipitates and Mn Solute Atoms on the Recrystallization Behavior of an Al-Mn Alloy

In this paper, the effects of precipitates and Mn-solute atoms on the recrystallization behavior of an Al-Mn alloy was studied using micro-Vickers hardness, electrical conductivity measurements and optical microscopy. Various thermo-mechanical processes were designed to investigate the different morphologies, and the solute concentration, of Mn in the matrix. The results indicate that the recrystallization temperature, $T_R$ and time, $t_R$, are influenced by the amount of M-solute atoms in the matrix, and that the recrystallization microstructure is influenced by the amount of precipitates. Recrystallization in the Slow-Cooling specimen was rapid due to its low concentration of Mn-solute atoms, and the crystal-grain size was the smallest due to finely distributed precipitates. However, in the case of the No-Holding specimen, elongated grains were observed at the low annealing temperature and the largest recrystallized grains were observed at the high annealing temperatures (compared with Slow-Cooling and Base specimens) due to the high Mn-solute atoms in the matrix.