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A technique invented in the former Soviet Union and recently introduced in the United States, called equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE), produces intense and uniform deformation by simple shear and is applied to 25 ϫ 25 ϫ 152-mm billets of Cu 101 and Al 3003. Microcrystalline structures with a grain size of 0.2 to 0.4 m are created during room-temperature multipass ECAE deformation for true strains lying in the range ε ϭ 2.31 to 9.24. Evidence shows that intense simple shear deformation promotes dynamic or continuous recrystallization by subgrain rotation. The effects of the number of extrusion passes and deformation route for Cu 101, and the deformation route after four passes for Al 3003, are studied. Increasing the number of ECAE passes in Cu 101 causes strength to reach saturation and grain refinement stabilization after four passes (true strain of 4.68), and subgrain misorientation to increase as the number of passes increases. For multipass ECAE with billet orientation constant (route A) or rotated 90 deg between all passes (route B), two levels of structures are created inside the original grains: shear bands (first level) and very fine subgrains (second level) within the shear bands. For a billet rotation of 180 deg between passes (route C), an unusual event is observed. At each even numbered pass, shear bands nearly disappear and only subgrains are present inside the original grains. Route B gives the highest strength, whereas route C produces a more equiaxed and stable microstructure. Subsequent static recrystallization increases the average grain size to 5 to 10 m.

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Submicrometer-grained (SMG) microstructures are produced in an Al–Mg–Si alloy (6061) by subjecting peak-aged and overaged billets of the alloy to intense plastic strain by a process known as equal channel angular extrusion. Two types of refined structure are distinguished by optical and transmission electron microscopy. One structure is created through intense deformation (four extrusion passes through a 90° die, ε = 4.62) by dynamic rotational recrystallization and is a well-formed grain (fragmented) structure with a mean fragment or grain size of 0.2–0.4 μm. The other structure is produced by post-extrusion annealing through static migration recrystallization, resulting in a grain size of 5–15 μm. Intense deformation of peak-aged material to a true strain ε of 4.62 (four passes) produces a strong, ductile, uniform, fine, and high angle grain boundary microstructure with increased stability against static recrystallization as compared to the overaged material.