A preparation technique is described which allows thin cold rolled foi
ls of Aluminium to be observed edge-on by transmission electron micros
copy. It consists of glueing a number of foils into a pack of sufficie
nt height and stability to be sectioned and thinned by ion milling. A
foil rolled to 6.5 mu m thickness contains only about 15 (sub)grains a
cross its thickness. The spacing of large angle grain boundaries indic
ates that the generation of grain boundary area by deformation is coun
teracted during severe rolling by grain boundary recombination.