Billet Rotation Research Articles

Microstructure and properties of copper and aluminum alloy 3003 heavily worked by equal channel angular extrusion

A technique invented in the former Soviet Union and recently introduced in the United States, called equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE), produces intense and uniform deformation by simple shear and is applied to 25 × 25 × 152-mm billets of Cu 101 and Al 3003. Microcrystalline structures with a grain size of 0.2 to 0.4 µm are created during room-temperature multipass ECAE deformation for true strains lying in the range e=2.31 to 9.24. Evidence shows that intense simple shear deformation promotes dynamic or continuous recrystallization by subgrain rotation. The effects of the number of extrusion passes and deformation route for Cu 101, and the deformation route after four passes for Al 3003, are studied. Increasing the number of ECAE passes in Cu 101 causes strength to reach saturation and grain refinement stabilization after four passes (true strain of 4.68), and subgrain misorientation to increase as the number of passes increases. For multipass ECAE with billet orientation constant (route A) or rotated 90 deg between all passes (route B), two levels of structures are created inside the original grains: shear bands (first level) and very fine subgrains (second level) within the shear bands. For a billet rotation of 180 deg between passes (route C), an unusual event is observed. At each even numbered pass, shear bands nearly disappear and only subgrains are present inside the original grains. Route B gives the highest strength, whereas route C produces a more equiaxed and stable microstructure. Subsequent static recrystallization increases the average grain size to 5 to 10 µm.

Shape Control in CNC Rotary Swaging Machine

To obtain sound products with good shape accuracy in the computer controlled rotary swaging machine, the effects of working conditions and the methods for improving the accuracy after forming process are investigated by experiment and FEM analysis. The rigid-plastic FEM analysis with an assumption of generalized plane strain can be employed for predicting the shape of products. Optimum incremental angle of billet rotation is found to be about 10 degrees when 4 dies are used. It is clarified that slow retreat of dies and finishing blows after forming are effective to suppress the shape distortion.