Modelling microstructure evolution during equal channel angular pressing of magnesium alloys using cellular automata finite element method

Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is one of the most popular methods of obtaining ultrafine grained (UFG) metals. However, only relatively short billets can be processed by ECAP due to force limitation. A solution to this problem could be recently developed incremental variant of the process, so called I-ECAP. Since I-ECAP can deal with continuous billets, it can be widely used in industrial practice. Recently, many researchers have put an effort to obtain UFG magnesium alloys which, due to their low density, are very promising materials for weight and energy saving applications. It was reported that microstructure refinement during ECAP is controlled by dynamic recrystallization and the final mean grain size is dependent mainly on processing temperature. In this work, cellular automata finite element (CAFE) method was used to investigate microstructure evolution during four passes of ECAP and its incremental variant I-ECAP. The cellular automata space dynamics is determined by transition rules, whose parameters are strain, strain rate and temperature obtained from FE simulation. An internal state variable model describes total dislocation density evolution and transfers this information to the CA space. The developed CAFE model calculates the mean grain size and generates a digital microstructure prediction after processing, which could be useful to estimate mechanical properties of the produced UFG metal. Fitting and verification of the model was done using the experimental results obtained from I-ECAP of an AZ31B magnesium alloy and the data derived from literature. The CAFE simulation results were verified for the temperature range 200-250 °C and strain rate 0.01-0.5 s-1; good agreement with experimental data was achieved

Wytwarzanie wielofunkcyjnych blach do tłoczenia za pomocą przyrostowego odkształcania w kanale kątowym : Production of tailored blanks by Incremental ECAP

The paper reviews the current methods of producing tailored blanks (TBs), together with the areas of applications and possible problems. A new method of producing TBs, based on simple shear, has been proposed. It is a variant of the process, which originally has been developed as a means of refining grain structure of metals by Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP). Further development of ECAP towards an incremental version of this process (I-ECAP) enables processing very long billets and varying their thickness. Taking advantage of the latter, two different experimental rigs have been built in order to check feasibility of producing TBs by I-ECAP. TBs produced in this way have been named Tailored Sheared Blanks (TSBs). Finite element simulation of the process realised on one of these rigs provided an insight into the mechanism of changing blank thickness and strain distribution. The proposed method has several advantages such as lack of welding seams, possibility of thinning as well as thickening initial blanks, creation of thickness steps on both sides of the blank and flexible length of thickness transition

New method of producing tailored blanks with constant thickness

The concept of weight-saving in automotive manufacture by using tailored blanks is well established. The methods used to produce extra strength in particular areas of the blank can be based either on increasing material thickness in those areas or keeping the thickness constant but varying the material properties. Typically the first option is used by welding blank patches of different thickness. From the view point of forming blanks into sheet metal products uniform thickness is less problematic and it can be achieved by welding different materials of the same thickness or localised heat treatment. However, these approaches have major limitations: welding introduces discontinuity in material structure and properties while selective heat treatment is difficult to control. A new, original method presented here is based on a local shear deformation of the blank material. The particular process used is incremental equal channel angular pressing. The proposed approach is simulated using finite element modelling and then experimentally verified by producing a constant thickness pure aluminium strip with varying hardness. A discussion of different variants of this approach indicates its potential

Incremental non-equal channel angular pressing - FE simulation

Equal channel angular pressing is the most popular process of severe plastic deformation used to refine grain structure in metals in order to improve their properties. One of the features of severe plastic deformation is lack of change of billet's shape and dimensions. However, for practical reasons, departure from this pure definition might be useful. This paper considers a possibility of changing billet's cross section in the first pass of the incremental version of equal channel angular pressing from round to rectangular to avoid material loss when machining the initial billet. The process has been simulated using a finite element program Abaqus. This simulation showed feasibility of the process and provided information regarding tool geometry and required forces

Wytwarzanie wielofunkcyjnych blach techniką ścinania

Incremental shear has been used to vary blank properties along the sheet plane. The feasibility of the method has been investigated to manufacture so called Tailor Sheared Blanks featuring property distribution of the blank without thickness variation. Mechanical properties resulting from evolution of coarse grain microstructure towards ultra fine grain one can be achieved. Tool configuration, experimental procedure, simulation using finite element method and preliminary trials of producing tailored blanks by incremental shear were described

Tailored sheared blanks produced by incremental ECAP

Incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) is a process used for production of continuous ultrafine grained bars, plates and sheets. Normally the thickness of the processed billet is kept unchanged in consecutive passes to enable repetitive insertion into the same die. This is achieved by controlling the bottom dead centre of the reciprocating punch. However, if a final product requires being thinner and therefore longer, the bottom position of the punch can be lowered before the last pass. Going further, the bottom position of the punch can be changed during the process, which opens up a possibility to vary billet thickness along its length. Such a product, especially sheet, can serve as a preform for further metal forming operations and is known as tailored blank. This paper will show examples of varying thickness sheets produced by different configurations of I-ECAP. Experimental and finite element results will be presented

A comparison study on different NDT techniques used for testing bond quality in cold roll bonded AlSn alloy/steel bimetal strips

This paper presents non-destructive testing (NDT) results for the detection of bond defects in aluminium-tin (Al-Sn) alloy/steel bimetal strips. Among all types of bimetal strip that are used in the automotive industry for plain journal engine bearings, Al-Sn alloys cold roll bonded (CRB) onto steel backing is the most common type. The difficulty to evaluate the metallurgical bond between the two dissimilar metals is a major industrial concern, which comprises the risk that bearings fail in the field. Considering the harsh performance requirements, one hundred percent online non-destructive testing would be desirable to significantly reduce the business risk. Nowadays bimetal strip manufacturers still rely on destructive testing through different peel-off tests. This work offers the results from four independent NDT studies, using active thermography, shearography, ultrasound and guided wave EMATs and samples with different artificially implanted defects, to explore the feasibility to qualitatively indicate the occurrence of bond defects. A destructive peel off test was used to correlate the NDT results with known bond quality. The studies were done under laboratory conditions, and in case of ultrasound also online under production conditions. During the ultrasound online test, the requirements that a NDT technique has to fulfil for online inspection of Al-Sn alloy/steel bimetal strip were established. For active thermography, shearography and guided wave EMAT techniques, it was theoretically analysed, if the laboratory test results could be transferred to testing under production conditions. As a result, guided waves using EMATs, among the four tested methods, are best suited for online inspection of Al-Sn alloy/steel bimetal strip inspection. This research was carried out in collaboration with MAHLE Engine Systems UK Ltd., an Al-Sn alloy/steel bimetal strip manufacturer for the automotive industry

Warm deformation behaviour of UFG CP-Titanium produced by I-ECAP

The objective of the present study is to investigate the deformation behaviour of Ultrafine-grain (UFG) commercial purity Titanium (CP-Ti) at warm temperatures. Firstly, CP-Ti billets were processed through six passes of incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) at 300° C using a die channel angle (Φ) of 120°. Uniaxial compression tests were then performed under isothermal conditions on cylindrical samples obtained from the UFG CP-Ti billets. A series of these tests were conducted at different temperatures of 400, 500 and 600 °C and at varying strain rates of 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0 s-1. In each test, the original height of the sample was deformed by ~50% of its original value. The true stress-strain curves obtained, revealed that the flow stress was sensitive to both temperature and strain rate. In general, the flow stress was higher for lower temperatures and higher strain rates. For tests conducted at 400 and 500 °C, the flow stress quickly reaches a peak value, beyond which it exhibits a steady state response where there is no appreciable change in flow stress with increasing strain. The 600 °C tests however shows a strain hardening behaviour. Microstructure of the sample deformed at 600 °C and 0.01 s-1, exhibited significant grain growth

Influence of incremental ECAP on the microstructure and tensile behaviour of commercial purity titanium

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is an effective method for producing ultrafine grained (UFG) structures in metals. UFG materials are characterized by an average grain size of <1 µm and mostly high angle grain boundaries. These materials exhibit exceptional improvements in strength, superplastic behaviour and in some cases enhanced biocompatibility. Among various SPD methods available, equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is the most effective method for obtaining bulk UFG billets. Lately, the interest is towards industrialization of the ECAP technique to enable processing of very long or continuous billets. Incremental ECAP (I-ECAP) developed at University of Strathclyde, offers such possibility. The present work details the processing of commercial purity titanium (CP-Ti), using I-ECAP process, with the objective of improving its strength characteristics. CP-Ti billets were successfully processed for up to four passes at 300 °C using an I-ECAP die with a channel angle of 90°. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique was used to characterize the microstructure after first and fourth pass of the process. Analysis of the first pass sample revealed heterogeneous structure with a mixture of elongated and refined equi-axed grains. Moreover, existence of {101 ̅2} tensile twinning in the microstructure was also observed. Remarkable refinement was achieved after fourth pass and ultrafine-grain (UFG) structure was successfully achieved. Room temperature tensile tests carried out on unprocessed and UFG material, display the improvement in strength. The yield strength of the processed material was increased from 308 to 671 MPa and the ultimate tensile strength from 549 to 730 MPa. However, strain-hardening ability of the material was greatly reduced because of processing. Consequently, the material suffers loss in ductility, from 31.9% elongation to failure in the unprocessed form to 21.1% in UFG form. Finally, fracture morphology of the unprocessed and processed CP-Ti displays characteristics of ductile failure. It has been shown that I-ECAP is an effective method for improving strength characteristics of CP-Ti

Effect of channel angle on the material flow and hardness distribution during incremental ECAP of Al-1050 billets

Incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) is an extension of the classical ECAP method used to produce ultrafine grained (UFG) metals. This paper investigates the first pass of I-ECAP performed on AA-1050 billets measuring 10x10x60mm and the effects of processing with two different dies with the channel intersection angle ϕ=90° and ϕ=120°. The forces required to produce billets were examined and compared. Micro hardness measurements were performed to create a hardness distribution contour map and to evaluate the strain distribution. Moreover FE simulations were performed to investigate the plastic strain distribution within the billets. It was found that using the ϕ=90° die results in higher deformation forces and also greater uniformity of strain distribution when compared to billets processed with ϕ=120° die. The experimental results correlated well with the findings of the simulations