Incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) is a severe plastic deformation process used to refine grain size of metals, which allows processing very long billets. As described in the current article, an AZ31B magnesium alloy was processed for the first time by three different routes of I-ECAP, namely, A, B C , and C, at 523 K (250°C). The structure of the material was homogenized and refined to~5 microns of the average grain size, irrespective of the route used. Mechanical properties of the I-ECAPed samples in tension and compression were investigated. Strong influence of the processing route on yield and fracture behavior of the material was established. It was found that texture controls the mechanical properties of AZ31B magnesium alloy subjected to I-ECAP. SEM and OM techniques were used to obtain microstructural images of the I-ECAPed samples subjected to tension and compression. Increased ductility after I-ECAP was attributed to twinning suppression and facilitation of slip on basal plane. Shear bands were revealed in the samples processed by I-ECAP and subjected to tension. Tensioncompression yield stress asymmetry in the samples tested along extrusion direction was suppressed in the material processed by routes B C and C. This effect was attributed to textural development and microstructural homogenization. Twinning activities in fine-and coarsegrained samples have also been studied.

Mechanical properties of AZ31B magnesium alloy were modified in this work by various processing routes of incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) followed by heat treatment. Possible strategies for improving ductility and strength of the alloy were investigated. Processing by routes A and BC showed that texture plays predominant role in controlling mechanical properties at room temperature. Four passes of I-ECAP by route C followed by annealing enhanced ductility up to 0.35 of true strain. It was found that tensile twinning was important in accommodating strain during tensile testing, which resulted in a very good hardening behaviour. The yield strength was improved to 300 MPa by refining grain size to 0.8 µm in I-ECAP at 150 °C. The obtained structure and properties were shown to be stable up to 150 °C. True strain at fracture was increased to 0.2 after annealing at 150 °C without lowering strength

Abstract. An AZ31B wrought magnesium alloy was processed by incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) using routes A and B C . Despite the fact that the measured grain size for both routes was very similar, the mechanical properties were different. Tensile strength was improved using route A comparing to route B C , without ductility loss, while tension-compression anisotropy observed for route A was significantly suppressed when using route B C . Moreover, billet shape evolution resulting from subsequent passes of I-ECAP was studied. Significant distortion after processing using route B C and no occurrence of such effect for route A were observed. Results of a finite element analysis showed that nonuniform strain rate sensitivity might be responsible for different billet shapes. The conclusion is drawn that processing route has a strong influence on the billet shape and mechanical properties when processing magnesium alloys by I-ECAP.

Incremental equal channel angular pressing (I‐ECAP) is used in this work to produce ultrafine‐grained (UFG) pure iron, aluminum alloy 5083, commercial purity titanium (grade 4), and magnesium alloy AZ31B. Pure iron is processed at room temperature, aluminum alloy at 200 °C, titanium at 320 °C, and magnesium alloy at 150 °C. Strength improvement, attributed to the grain refinement below 1 μm, is reported for all processed materials. The yield strength increase is the most apparent in pure iron, reaching almost 500 MPa after one pass of I‐ECAP, comparing to 180 MPa in the as‐forged conditions. UFG titanium, aluminum, and magnesium alloys obtained in this study reached yield stress of 800, 350, and 300 MPa, respectively, in each case exhibiting the yield strength increase by at least 30%, comparing to the alloys processed by conventional metal forming operations such as forging and rolling.

This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/48142/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Strathprints administrator: strathprints@strath.ac.ukThe Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output. Abstract. The goal of this work was to investigate formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy during incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP). Square billets were processed using different routes of I-ECAP at temperatures varying from 125 °C to 250 °C. The billets were obtained from commercially available coarse-grained, hot-extruded rod and fine-grained, hot-rolled plate. A strong influence of the initial microstructure on processing temperature was reported. Finegrained samples were successfully processed at 200 °C, while coarse-grained ones must have been heated up to 250 °C to avoid fracture. A gradual temperature decrease with subsequent passes allowed successful pressing at 150 °C. Processing using various routes of I-ECAP showed that a billet rotation before the last pass had strong influence on mechanical properties. The results of experiments were plotted on the diagram of allowable processing temperature for AZ31B. It was found that the relation between the minimum temperature in I-ECAP and the initial grain size could be described by a logarithmic equation.