Effect of ECAP on the Plastic Strain Homogeneity, Microstructural Evolution, Crystallographic Texture and Mechanical Properties of AA2xxx Aluminum Alloy

Abstract

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.

Effect of ECAP Route Type on the Microstructural Evolution, Crystallographic Texture, Electrochemical Behavior and Mechanical Properties of ZK30 Biodegradable Magnesium Alloy

“…Valiev et al were the first to foresee the practical applications of applying SPD techniques to biomedical implants [ 27 ]. The most prominent SPD techniques for UFG creation are Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ], High Pressure Torsion (HPT) [ 34 , 35 , 36 ], twist extrusion [ 37 ], accumulative rolling bonding [ 38 ], and Multi-Channel Spiral Twist Extrusion (MCSTE) [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. Amongst the aforementioned techniques, ECAP is well-known as the most dependable and effective of them at creating UFG or Nano-Structured (NS) metallic materials, which is reflected in the produced material’s mechanical and corrosion properties [ 25 , 28 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].…”

Influence of Ultrafine-Grained Microstructure and Texture Evolution of ECAPed ZK30 Magnesium Alloy on the Corrosion Behavior in Different Corrosive Agents

“…Valiev et al were the first to suggest using severe plastic deformation (SPD) in the processing of biomedical implants [ 25 ]. Various SPD techniques have been developed for producing ultra-fine grained (UFG) materials, such as equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], high pressure torsion (HPT) [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], twist extrusion [ 35 ], accumulative rolling bonding [ 36 ], and multi-channel spiral twist extrusion (MCSTE) [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Among the different SPD techniques, ECAP has been proven to be the most potent technique in producing UFG or even nano-structured (NS) metallic materials.…”

Grain Structure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Multi-Channel Spiral Twist Extruded AA5083

“…Hence, it has become intrinsically important to intensify the research conducted on "top down" severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes, as they provide an optimal approach to producing UFG structures without porosity or contamination compared to their counterpart "bottom-up" methods [2]. Concurrently, several SPD processes have been devised with the perpetual aim of grain refinement and simultaneous boundary strengthening [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”