The hot deformation characteristics and the associated microstructural evolution of an Al–Cu–Li–Zn alloy studied by constitutive equations and processing maps

The hot deformation behavior and the associated microstructural evolution (which were the keys to decide mechanical properties) were studied using different deformation conditions for the quaternary Al–Cu–Li–Zn alloy containing 1.0 wt% Zn. The constitutive equations and processing map were established. Dynamic recrystallization (DRX) was related to the orientation of the initial grains. The DRX rarely occurred in the grains with an orientation near Al and mainly occurred in the grains with an orientation near Al. Particle simulated nucleation (PSN) promoted by pre-existed coarse T1 phase particles was the main mechanism of the DRX when the deformation temperature was below 450 °C. In the temperature range of 450–500 °C with a strain rate of 0.01 s−1, the DRX occurred by grain boundary bulging or the increase in the cumulative misorientation, but only small fraction of the DRX grains appeared. This work provided an important guideline for the optimization of deformation techniques and microstructures.