Orientation hardening and instability of an AA3003 aluminum alloy sheet under in-plane strain stretching

The work-hardening characteristics of an AA3003 aluminum sheet alloy are studied. The changes in texture during in-plane strain stretching are followed by changes in the orientation distribution function (ODF). A numerical method is used to derive the rate of the orientation hardening of a polycrystal and individual texture components directly from the ODF data in the alloy sheet. The orientation hardening behavior of the bulk sheet metal explain the development of instability in the deformation process. The onset of instability is governed by the local orientation softening at the grain level. Different patterns of orientation hardening are observed for individual grain orientations which are different from the bulk behavior.