Influence of purity on the formation of cube texture in aluminum foils for electrolytic capacitors

In the present study, the crystal orientation and residual strains in hot rolled sheets, cold rolled foils, partially annealed foils, and additionally rolled foils of aluminum of 99.9% (3NAl) and 99.99% (4NAl) purity used for the fabrication of electrolytic capacitors, were evaluated by the SEM/EBSP method. The additionally rolled foils were annealed at 573 K and the behavior of the growth of cube-oriented grains and the grain boundary character were analyzed. In the hot rolled sheets and the partially annealed foils, cube-oriented grains in 4NAl were larger in number and size than those of 3NAl. From the result, it was clarified that purity of the aluminum affected the growth of cube-oriented grains during the thermo-mechanical treatment. In the additionally rolled foils annealed at 573 K, the growth of the cube-oriented grains in 4NAl was faster than that in 3NAl. In both 3NAl and 4NAl, the residual strains and the grain boundary character were similar. Accordingly, it is concluded that impurity in 3NAl could have segregated at the grain boundaries around cube-oriented grains and supressed the growth of cube-oriented grains.