Producing High Strength Aluminum Alloy by Combination of Equal Channel Angular Pressing and Bake Hardening

A combination of severe plastic deformation by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and bake hardening (BH) was used to produce high strength ultrafine-grained AA6061 aluminum alloy. 2, 4 and 8 passes of ECAP were performed, and the bake hardenability of samples was tested by 6% pre-straining followed by baking at 200 °C for 20 min. The microstructures obtained for various passes of ECAP were characterized by XRD, EBSD, and TEM techniques. The microstructures were refined from an average grain size of 20 µm to 212 nm after 8 passes of ECAP. Maximum bake hardenability of 110 MPa, and final yield stress of 330 MPa were obtained in the specimens processed by 8 passes of ECAP

Numerical and analytical investigation of an ultrasonic assisted ECAP process

One of the great challenges in the processing of materials using Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) is the high forming forces required to produce large shear deformation in the material. Researchers show that the friction forces between the die and the sample constitute a great part of the total forming forces. Recently, ultrasonic vibrations are successfully implemented into the ECAP process with the aim of reducing the friction forces. However, there is still need to optimize the parameters of ultrasonic vibrations in the ECAP process using numerical methods. FE simulation of the ultrasonic assisted ECAP process is very time-consuming and during simulation, the constant ram speed has interaction with the vibration speed. A virtual increase in the ram speed for simulation of ultrasonic assisted ECAP process will affect the results. By using Coulomb and Dahl friction models, it is analytically shown how vibration speed and constant ram speed interact with each other during FE simulation. The results clearly suggest against using virtually higher speeds in numerical modelling of the vibrated ECAP process. The conclusion is reached through comparing several simulations, as well as an analytical formulation, with experimental data from literature. The required friction coefficient values to be used in FE simulation at high contact forces are measured experimentally. An alternative strategy is then offered to speed up FE simulation of the vibrated ECAP process without the need for a virtual increase in the ram speed. The proposed strategy can increase the simulation speed of the ultrasonic assisted ECAP process up to ten times <br /

A new designed incremental high pressure torsion process for producing long nanostructured rod samples

High pressure torsion (HPT) is one of the most important and effective severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes for producing nanostructured (NS) and ultrafine grained (UFG) metals. Whereas HPT presents excellent mechanical properties, its applications are limited to small disk-shaped samples. In this study a new design of incremental HPT (IHPT) process entitled SIHPT is developed which is much convenient for the production of large NS and UFG metallic rods. In this new design, some steppers along the length of the rod-shaped sample are used while applying an axial load from two ends of it. Step twisting of stepper parts with simultaneous axial loads extend the deformed region to the whole length of the sample. The five turn IHPT process was applied to a 50 mm length and 10 mm diameter pure copper sample and microstructure, and mechanical properties were evaluated. The microstructural study of SIHPT processed samples using TEM and EBSD micrographs clearly reflected the NS sample having an average grain size of less than 100 nm. Also, microhardness measurements showed that the sample has fairly good homogeneity through both axial and radial directions. Besides, tensile test measurements indicate that there is about four times improvement in yield strength of nanostructured sample compared to unprocessed metal which is accompanied with satisfactory ductility as a result of high hydrostatic compressive stresses

Hydrostatic cyclic expansion extrusion (HCEE) as a novel severe plastic deformation process for producing long nanostructured metals

In this paper, hydrostatic cyclic expansion extrusion (HCEE) is developed as a new severe plastic deformation technique for processing of the relatively longer ultrafine grained samples. Increasing the length of the processed sample, decreasing the processing load astonishingly, and increasing the hydrostatic stresses are the main advantages of HCEE. In this process, pressurized hydraulic fluid surrounded workplace played the primary role in reducing the friction load and in reducing consequently total load. The HCEE process was applied to commercial pure aluminum 1050 samples at room temperature, and then microstructural evolution and mechanical properties were examined. Microstructure analysis using back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) revealed that a significant grain refinement is achieved after the HCEE process. The average size of grains and subgrains decreased to ~700 nm after two passes of the HCEE process from the initial value of 50 µm in the unprocessed sample. Yield and ultimate strength were increased from 40 MPa and 52 MPa to 125 MPa and 137 MPa after two passes of HCEE process. Also, microhardness was increased from 36 HV to 45 HV after the first pass. The process seems to be very promising for industrial application of SPD processing which suffer from the main challenge of limited sample size

Processing and characterization of nanostructured Grade 2 Ti processed by combination of warm isothermal ECAP and extrusion

In this study, combined multi pass equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), and subsequent warm extrusion at different temperatures are performed on commercial purity titanium. Mechanical and microstructural evolutions are then investigated. Since it was observed that the four passes ECAP processed sample showed the best strength and reasonable elongation, this sample was selected for studying the extrusion temperature effects on the structure and mechanical properties of Grade 2 titanium. Therefore, the 4th passes ECAP processed sample was extruded at different temperatures of 300 °C, 350 °C, 400 °C, 450 °C and 500 °C. The result revealed that the best mechanical properties were achieved from the specimen processed by four passes ECAP followed by warm extrusion at 300 °C. The strength, and hardness of this sample were considerably improved in comparison with that of the unprocessed sample. Also, its ultra-fine grained and nanograined microstructure were homogeneous, with a grain size ranged from 40 to 200 nm with an average grain size of about 123 nm. It was seen that the mechanical properties of some samples after applying this combined process (ECAP + warm extrusion) are comparable with those of Grade 5 titanium which is commonly used in medical applications but contains alloying elements that are toxic to human health

Nanomaterials by severe plastic deformation: review of historical developments and recent advances

International audienceSevere plastic deformation (SPD) is effective in producing bulk ultrafine-grained and nanostructured materials with large densities of lattice defects. This field, also known as NanoSPD, experienced a significant progress within the past two decades. Beside classic SPD methods such as high-pressure torsion, equal-channel angular pressing, accumulative roll-bonding, twist extrusion, and multi-directional forging, various continuous techniques were introduced to produce upscaled samples. Moreover, numerous alloys, glasses, semiconductors, ceramics, polymers, and their composites were processed. The SPD methods were used to synthesize new materials or to stabilize metastable phases with advanced mechanical and functional properties. High strength combined with high ductility, low/room-temperature superplasticity, creep resistance, hydrogen storage, photocatalytic hydrogen production, photocatalytic CO2 conversion, superconductivity, thermoelectric performance, radiation resistance, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility are some highlighted properties of SPD-processed materials. This article reviews recent advances in the NanoSPD field and provides a brief history regarding its progress from the ancient times to modernity

Microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ91 tubes fabricated by Multi-pass Parallel Tubular Channel Angular Pressing

Parallel Tubular Channel Angular Pressing (PTCAP) process is a novel recently developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) method for producing ultrafine grained (UFG) and nanograined (NG) tubular specimens with excellent mechanical and physical properties. This process has several advantageous compared to its TCAP counterparts. In this paper, a fine grained AZ91 tube was fabricated via multi pass parallel tubular channel angular pressing (PTCAP) process. Tubes were processed up to three passes PTCAP at 300 °C. Evolution of microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of the processed tubes after different passes were evaluated. Hardness, strength, and elongation were increased for processed tubes. Mean grain size was notably reduced to 3.8 μm for the tube which processed three passes from a 150 μm for the unprocessed tube. The maximum strength was found for second passes PTCAP processed tube which increased considerably about 108 %. The strength of the first pass processed tube increased about 62.5%. Increasing in elongation at room temperature was occurred, too. Mechanical properties of the third pass processed tube were deteriorated relatively because of appearing microcracks on the surface. Also, the hardness improved and it was increased about 77%. The result showed that the achieved mechanical properties consistent with microstructure

Microstructural and mechanical properties of dissimilar aluminum alloys/Al₂O₃ nanocomposite joint via friction stir welding

152-158In this study, AA5083-H116 and AA7075-T6 aluminum alloys are joined by friction stir welding (FSW) and incorporating alumina nanoparticles into the joint to produce an aluminum alloys/Al2O3 nanocomposite. The joining process is carried out by using a square pin profile tool at rotational and traverse speeds of 800 rpm and 50 mm/min, respectively. Microstructural investigation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM) are revealed a clustered structure that consists of Al2O3-rich and Al2O3-free areas in the stir zone (SZ). Besides, it is observed that the grain size of the joint is reduced after addition of nanoparticles. Moreover, owing to the presence of Al2O3 nanoparticles, the resultant hardness profile shows the superior hardness of the reinforcement-included specimen, while the ultimate tensile strength and percentage of elongation are reduced

Design of Refractory Alloys for Desired Thermal Conductivity via AI-Assisted In-Silico Microstructure Realization

A computational methodology based on supervised machine learning (ML) is described for characterizing and designing anisotropic refractory composite alloys with desired thermal conductivities (TCs). The structural design variables are parameters of our fast computational microstructure generator, which were linked to the physical properties. Based on the Sobol sequence, a sufficiently large dataset of artificial microstructures with a fixed volume fraction (VF) was created. The TCs were calculated using our previously developed fast Fourier transform (FFT) homogenization approach. The resulting dataset was used to train our optimal autoencoder, establishing the intricate links between the material&rsquo;s structure and properties. Specifically, the trained ML model&rsquo;s inverse design of tungsten-30% (VF) copper with desired TCs was investigated. According to our case studies, our computational model accurately predicts TCs based on two perpendicular cut-section images of the experimental microstructures. The approach can be expanded to the robust inverse design of other material systems based on the target TCs