In Situ Observation of Recrystallization of Aluminum Single Crystals Using Synchrotron Radiation Monochromatic X-Rays

Abstract

Recrystallization process of an aluminum (Al) single crystal was observed in situ using synchrotron X-rays. Al single-crystalline samples were deformed in tension along a <111> direction to a strain of 8%, and were subsequently annealed at 753 K. The changes in the shape and intensity of diffraction spots were analyzed using a two-dimensional detector. A diffraction spot from the deformation matrix had three peaks which reflected a sub-grained microstructure of the sample. The in situ observation during annealing unveiled the appearance of diffraction spots from a recrystallized grain at 330.8 s. As the diffraction spots from the recrystallized grain became larger, the diffraction spots from the deformation matrix gradually disappeared. The application of the X-ray topography method revealed the crystal orientation variation in a recrystallized grain in order of 0.001 degree.