This study aims to establish the effects of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) processing on the corrosion behavior and hardness values of the AZ31 Mg alloy. The AZ31 billets were processed through ECAP successfully at 250 °C and their microstructural evolution was studied using optical and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The corrosion resistance of the AZ31 alloy was studied before and after processing through ECAP. The homogeneity of the hardness distribution was studied using both sections cut parallel and perpendicular to the extrusion direction. ECAP processing resulted in highly deformed central regions with elongated grains aligned parallel to the extrusion direction, whereas the peripheral regions showed an ultra-fine-grain recrystallized structure. After processing, small ultra-fine secondary particles were found to be homogeneously dispersed alongside the grain boundaries of the α-Mg matrix. Regarding the corrosion properties, measurements showed that ECAP processing through 1-P and 2-Bc resulted in decreasing their corrosion rate to 67.7% and 78.3%, respectively, of their as-annealed counterpart’s. The corrosion resistance of the ECAPed Mg alloy increased with the number of processing passes. This was due to the refinement of the grain size of the α-Mg matrix and secondary phases till ultra-fine size, caused by the accumulation of strain during processing. On the other hand, ECAP processing through 2-Bc resulted in increasing the Vickers hardness values by 132% and 71.8% at the peripheral and central areas, respectively, compared to the as-annealed counterpart.

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This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) processing on the structural evolution and mechanical properties of AA2xxx aluminum alloy. Finite element analysis (FE) was used to study the deformation behavior of the AA2xxx billets during processing in addition investigate the strain homogeneity in the longitudinal and transverse direction. Billets of AA2011 aluminum alloy were processed successfully through ECAP up to 4-passes with rotating the sample 90° along its longitudinal axis in the same direction after each pass (route Bc) at 150 °C. The microstructural evolution and crystallographic texture were analyzed using the electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and optical microscopy (OM). An evaluation of the hardness and tensile properties was presented and correlated with the EBSD findings and FE simulations. The FE analysis results were in good agreement with the experimental finding and microstructural evolution. Processing through 4-passes produced an ultrafine-grained structure (UFG) and a recrystallized fine grain dominated the structure coupled with a geometric grain subdivision which indicated by grain refining and very high density of substructures. This reduction in grain size was coupled with an enhancement in the hardness, tensile strength by 66.6%, and 52%, respectively compared to the as-annealed counterpart. Processing through 1-pass and 2-passes resulted in a strong texture with significant rotation for the texture components whereas 4-passes processing led to losing the symmetry of the texture with significant reduction in the texture intensity.

The current study presents a detailed investigation for the equal channel angular pressing of pure copper through two regimes. The first was equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) processing at room temperature and the second was ECAP processing at 200 °C for up to 4-passes of route Bc. The grain structure and texture was investigated using electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) across the whole sample cross-section and also the hardness and the tensile properties. The microstructure obtained after 1-pass at room temperature revealed finer equiaxed grains of about 3.89 µm down to submicrons with a high density of twin compared to the starting material. Additionally, a notable increase in the low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) density was observed. This microstructure was found to be homogenous through the sample cross section. Further straining up to 2-passes showed a significant reduction of the average grain size to 2.97 µm with observable heterogeneous distribution of grains size. On the other hand, increasing the strain up to 4-passes enhanced the homogeneity of grain size distribution. The texture after 4-passes resembled the simple shear texture with about 7 times random. Conducting the ECAP processing at 200 °C resulted in a severely deformed microstructure with the highest fraction of submicron grains and high density of substructures was also observed. ECAP processing through 4-passes at room temperature experienced a significant increase in both hardness and tensile strength up to 180% and 124%, respectively.