Microstructure and Mechanical Properties Resulting from Conventional Cold Extrusion of Equal Channel Angular Extruded Aluminium Alloy AA6101

Abstract

Severe plastic deformation processes like equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) have been widely investigated for their ability to produce nano/ ultra fine-grained microstructures. It is well known that submicron sized grains/ sub grains can be produced in most Al alloys using this technique. However, industrial applications of ECAE will depend heavily on the advantages conferred by this process when it is used as an intermediate processing step prior to conventional forming. In the current investigation, the influence of pre processing by ECAE on subsequent post processing by conventional cold extrusion has been investigated. ECAE extrusion was carried out on cylindrical specimens of AA 6101 using an ECAE die with a die angle of 120 degrees. Extrusion was carried out for three passes using two different processing routes. The ECA extruded specimens were subsequently subjected to conventional cold extrusion. The differences in extrusion pressures, which have a strong influence on industrial applications, were noted. Changes in microstructure and mechanical properties were also determined. The obtained results of mechanical properties and microstructure evaluation show that for high strains (strain ε ≈ 2.01), ECAE through some processing routes can be effectively used as an intermediate processing step prior to conventional cold extrusion to obtain a product with enhanced mechanical properties.