The effect of a pulsed magnetic field on the microstructure of a QAl9-4 aluminium bronze alloy was studied in this work. It was found that the dislocation density, grain boundary angle, and microhardness of the alloy significantly changed after the magnetic field treatment with a peak magnetic induction intensity of 3T, pulse duration of about 100 us, pulse interval of 10 s, and pulse time of 360. EBSD was used to test the KAM maps of the alloy microzone. It was found that the alloy's dislocation density decreased by 10.88% after the pulsed magnetic field treatment; in particular, the dislocation in the deformed grains decreased significantly. The quantity of dislocation pile-up and the degree of distortion around the dislocation were reduced, which decreased the residual compressive stress on the alloy. Dislocation motion caused LAGB rotation, which reduced the misorientation of adjacent points inside the grain. The magnetic field induced the disappearance of deformation twins and weakened the strengthening effect of twins. The microhardness test results show that the alloy's microhardness decreased by 8.06% after pulsed magnetic field treatment. The possible reasons for the magnetic field effect on dislocation were briefly discussed. The pulsed magnetic field might have caused the transition to the electronic energy state at the site of dislocation pinning, which led to free movement of the vacancy or impurity atom. The dislocation was easier to depin under the action of internal stress in the alloy, changing the dislocation distribution and alloy microstructure.
Keywords: aluminium bronze; dislocation density; grain boundaries; magnetic field treatments; microhardness.