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Juergen R. Hirsch
Hydro Aluminium
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Jürgen Hirsch, Hydro Aluminium Deutschland GmbH - R&D, D53014 Bonn, Germany
The production of the main body of the 2-piece beer & beverage cans from Aluminium sheet
is carried out in a sequence of drawing and ironing operations (as illustrated in fig. 1). In a
press operation, 12 to 14 circular blanks are stamped out in parallel from 0.25-0.30 mm thick
highly strain hardened, i.e. cold rolled sheet, followed by deep drawing into a cup. In a second
operation (the bodymaker), cup walls are further ironed down to appr. 0.1 mm thickness with
parallel forming of the can's base. Top trimming the can to length is then followed by
chemical washing. The can body is given its final design by a sequence of internal and
external coating plus printing, to be finalized by a necking and flanging operation.
The can end (lid) is produced separately in a sequency of high-speed stamping and forming
operations, from circular blanks of cold rolled and coil-coated sheet. Up to 28 blanks are
stamped out in parallel from up to 1,800 mm wide coils.
While the body can also be produced from (tin plated) steel sheet, the lid Aluminium alloy
cannot be replaced due to the corrosion requirements. Aluminum sheet provides this property
after cutting in the easy-open lines for the tear-off lid part by the stamping/cuting tools.
Alloy NR. Si Fe Cu Mn Mg Cr Zn Ti
EN-AW 3004 0.30 0.70 0.25 1.0 – 1.5 0.8-1.3 - 0.25 -
EN-AW 3004A 0.40 0.70 0.25 0.8 – 1.5 0.8-1.5 0.10 0.25 0.05
EN-AW 3104 0.60 0.80 0.05-0.25 0.8-1.4 0.8-1.3 - 0.25 0.10
EN-AW 3204 0.30 0.70 0.10-0.25 0.8-1.5 0.8-1.5 - 0.25 -
For can end (lid) products high strength AlMg4.5Mn = EN-AW 5182 sheet is used, one of the
hardest but still good formable non-heat treatable (solid solution strengthened) Al Alloys (see
chapter EN-AW 5182 – Automobile sheet).
Good Formability is required as the material undergoes heavy forming operations (fig.1).
Anisotropic material flow due to the texture of the sheet - controlled by balancing the hot strip
cube and cold rolling texture - always forms an uneven rim of the can (and in laboratory
tested cups, see fig. 2) during the deep drawing and ironing operations. Highly uneven cup
rims are detrimental for transport of the can bodies or affect the whole process when ears are
stretched and clipped off during ironing, leading to machine down time, reducing efficiency.
a) Deep drawing operation and cup with uneven rim
b) Cup rim profiles ∆h measured on laboratory and plant deep drawn cups
It must be noted that the definition of %Z is not unambiguous since it depends on the number
of ears included in the definition which can vary from four to eight /2,3/. The development of
%Z (all related to four ears, i.e. highest possible values) with increasing cold rolling reduction
is plotted in fig. 3b in the form of positive numbers for 0°/90° ears and negative ones for 45°
ears. This plot illustrates the early decrease of the (positive) 0°/90° ears with increasing strain
and the strong increase in 45° (negative) ears at high rolling reductions.
Fig. 3) Effect of cold rolling strain [%] on a) yield strength and b) % earing Z
In this definition there is no zero %Z value but a change of signs (dashed) at a level of
approx.. ± 2 % Z when the 45° (negative) ears overtake the (positive) 0°/90° ears at medium
rolling reductions. This shift occurs at higher cold rolling reduction for higher initial positive
0°/90° ears. Lower (45°) earing occurs at high rolling reductions when a sufficiently strong
cube texture was present in the starting materiel, i.e. in the hot rolled strip.
Table 2) Typical material / customer specifications :
The conventional fabrication route for can body sheet production is illustrated in Fig. 4 a. It
consists of DC casting large ingots (600mm x 1200 to 1700mm x 4000 to 9000mm), a two
step pre-annealing (up to ca. 600°C), break-down reversing hot rolling (at ca. 500°C) to ca.
20-40mm transfer slab gauge, tandem hot rolling to ca. 3mm with exit speed up to 5-8 m/sec
and exit (coiling) at temperatures > 300°C. The final cold rolling – usually without inter-
annealing – achieves a high strength state (EN def. 'H19' > ca. 260 MPa) in the finish gauge
sheet of < 0.3mm thickness.
casting
casting pre-heating
pre-heating hot
hotrolling
rolling cold
coldrolling
rolling
Fig. 4) Process chain for EN-AW 3104 can body sheet processing
Table 3 : Process steps and metallurgical parameters in can body sheet production
The microstructure of large DC cast ingots consists of coarse grains with a typical dendrite
cell structure (fig.5a) and a random texture (fig.7a). The initial DC-cast microstructure
contains coarse (10 to 50µm) and inhomogeneously distributed precipitates (Al(Fe,Mn)Si
'constituent particles' (fig.6a)).
4.6.2) Homogenization
Additionally fine (<0.5 µm) dispersoids are precipitated during pre-annealing. Control of
these particles is important since they affect recrystallization, grain size and texture during
sheet production. They also influence surface appearance and tool cleaning behaviour in the
can production process.
Preheating of ingots to hot rolling temperature is carried out by a two-step high temperature
treatment (up to 600°C). It is accompanied by characteristic changes of the solute content and
the precipitation microstructure (formed by Mn, Fe, Si alloy additions and impurities present
fig.6a) It levels out local concentration gradients, leads to partial dissolutioning and re-
forming of constituent particles and mainly to precipitation and coarsening of very fine
dispersoids, incl. some changes in constitution (from β-Al6(Mn,Fe) to α-Al15(Mn,Fe)3Si2 ).
Hot rolling parameters determine the main properties, also of the finish gauge sheet
(especially if inter-annealing is omitted). The hot strip thickness determines the final cold
rolling reduction and its microstructure (recrystallization state and texture) determines the
finish gauge strength and earing level.
During hot rolling at temperatures ≥ 500°C a new (recrystallized) grain structure is formed
(fig.5b). All particles are aligned and homogeneously distributed during the rolling process
(Fig. 6b,c). If hot rolling is carried out on multi-stand (3-4) hot rolling lines and complete
recrystallization can take place using the hot rolling heat (called self annealing) a strong cube
texture forms in the coiled hot strip (fig. 7b). During deep drawing it generates four 0°/90°
ears which are needed to balance the four 45° ears developed during cold rolling. The slow
rotation of Cube oriented grains towards the stable ß-fiber (around the rolling direction via the
Goss orientation [3]) and the mixture of both texture components efficiently balances these
opposite effects as illustrated in fig.2b.
Insufficient recrystallization at too low temperatures leads to a (hot) rolling texture with
unacceptable high 45° earing characteristics, further enhanced after cold rolling to 'H19'
condition. Complete self annealing is reached for sufficiently high coiling temperatures
(≥320°C). Otherwise additional hot band annealing or inter-annealing treatments must be
applied. However, at too low temperatures particle stimulated nucleation (‘PSN’) can affect
cube texture formation and reduce the required 0°/90° hot strip earing level!
5a) b) c)
6a) b) c)
7a) b) c)
Figs. 5 – 7 a-c) Microstructure evolution in EN-AW 3104 can body sheet processing
Figure 5) grain structure, Figure 6) precipitation structure, Figure 7) texture {111} polefigures
a) as-cast and homogenized, b) tandem - hot rolled (self annealed) c) cold roled finish gauge
4.6.4) Cold rolling
By cold rolling the final material properties are reached. As illustrated in fig.3 for a 2,2 mm
hot strip a fully recrystallized microstructure with a sufficiently strong cube texture (with
0°/90° earing) meets the required strength ‘H19’ YS (Rp0,2) ≥ 260 MPa at a sufficient high
degree of strain hardening by a cold rolling reduction of >90% ( and a finished gauge
thickness < 0.3 mm).
For a partially recrystallized or unrecrystallized hot strip this level is reached sooner, but also
the earing characteristics change faster from a required positive (0°/90°) Z value to the
negative (45°) earing value, rapidly decreasing thus exceeding the limit of 5% at > 90%
rolling strain. This limit is reached too soon or even exceeded already in the initial state if an
unrecrystallized hot strip is produced /3/. Another factor affecting finish gauge strength is the
cold rolling temperature, which under specific conditions may reach temperatures > 150°C
and thus significantly reduce cold rolling strength. Here also the time in-between passes will
be of some importance!
Any further heat treatment affects final material properties and must therefore be integrated in
any complete description of final strength effective in the product application. In subsequent
paint bake annealing operations a certain decrease in strength is implied due to the recovery
processes involved. However, significant recovery also takes place in industrial cold rolling
when coiling temperatures ≥ 130°C can occur.
By various hot and cold deformation tests details of the flow curves and microstructure
development can be analyzed and quantified. E.g. for hot deformation the amount of
recrystallization, grain size and texture as function of the four main thermo-mechanical
process parameters strain, strain rate, temperature and time are important /4/. The
microstructure models derived integrated into a computer program which simulates the
thermal and mechanical process parameters of hot and cold rolling mills is able to also predict
the corresponding development of microstructure and texture at any stage up to the final
properties /5/, which can be used to compare and design new rolling lines and equipment /6/.
Table 4 lists some of the known parameters that control the recrystallization behaviour and
affect microstructure and texture formation during hot rolling in canbody stock. Depending on
the alloy content, thermal and deformation history, a new recrystallization structure forms
with a strong cube texture during and after hot rolling. The cube texture strength in the final
hot strip depends on the number and the effective growth of existing cube nuclei which grow
in competition with other nuclei, in the grain interior, at grain boundaries and particles
('PSN'). These rival recrystallization mechanisms depend on the additions of alloy elements
and impurities (in solution and as 2nd phase particles and precipitation), the microstructure
evolution in the preceding processes and the actual process parameters (table 3). The resulting
intensity of the cube texture and the related 0°/90° earing value depends on the recrystallized
fraction in-between passes /5/ which can be predicted by simulation of the effect and
interaction of process parameters.
Table 4 Hot rolling parameters affecting recrystallization and cube texture formation:
Effect on high temperature Thr supports high ϕ and dϕ /dt long tp allows
microstructure recovery and recrystallization accelerates more
and properties recrystallization recrystallization
References