A Study of Cube Grain Nucleation in a Commercial Al Alloy during <i>In Situ</i> and Discontinuous (<i>Ex Situ)</i> Annealing Experiments

In the current study the nucleation of Cube grains during recrystallization in a commercial Al-Fe-Si alloy was investigated by in-situ and ex-situ annealing experiments at different temperatures. Both methods confirm that the Cube grains can be nucleated during RX both at large deformed Cube bands and other locations. During annealing only about one third of the Cube nuclei from these other locations developed into Cube oriented recrystallized grains owing to an unfavorable growth environment. Such nuclei needed also a longer incubation time due to their small size compared to nuclei formed at large Cube bands which can form nuclei very fast owing to the well-developed substructure and transition zones promoting nucleation. The growth rate of all Cube nuclei was found to be strongly influenced by their environment. This effect became more pronounced with decreasing annealing temperature due to an increasing amount of recovery.