Abstract Accumulative roll bonding (ARB) of aluminum alloy strips is often limited by severe edge cracking due to large, single-pass rolling reductions. Edge cracks are often caused by either poor alignment of the roll-bonded strips or lateral spreading. This work shows that lateral spreading can be reduced significantly by roll-bonding strips of interest within a frame of sacrificial material. For the conditions tested, it has been found that frames with 6.3 mm of constraint width are optimal in reducing edge cracking and maintaining thickness homogeneity during ARB. This methodology was found to greatly improve sample quality and yield when applied to multiple ARB cycles.