NICOLAE SERBAN, DOINA RADUCANU, VASILE-DANUT COJOCARU, MIHAI BUTU Structural and Mechanical Properties Investigations in an Ultrafine-Grained 6063-T1 Aluminum Alloy Produced by Severe Plastic Deformation

NICOLAE SERBAN, DOINA RADUCANU, VASILE-DANUT COJOCARU, MIHAI BUTU Structural and Mechanical Properties Investigations in an Ultrafine-Grained 6063-T1 Aluminum Alloy Produced by Severe Plastic Deformation

Abstract:
Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is a manufacturing technique for producing bulk ultrafine grained materials and nanomaterials, the advanced grain refinement obtained by SPD substantially improving structural and physico-mechanical characteristics for the processed material. Equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP), the main SPD technology, entails pressing test samples through a die containing two channels equal in cross section and intersecting at a certain angle. The billet theoretically deforms by simple shear and retains the same cross sectional area to allow repeated pressings for several cycles. A commercial Al-Mg-Si alloy (6063- T1) was investigated in this study. As-received 6063-T1 alloy was firstly analyzed in OES and XRD tests. The specimens were subsequently processed at ambient temperature for a number of passes up to nine (one, three, six and nine ECAP passes), using a die channel angle of 100°. After ECAP, samples were cut from each specimen (ECAP treated and as-received) and prepared for microstructural investigations (SEM) and mechanical testing (compression and microhardness tests, fracture surfaces analysis). Furthermore, multiple correlations between ECAP processing parameters and the resulting microstructure and mechanical properties for the ECAP treated 6063-T1 alloy were also determined. Keywords: ultrafine-grained materials, aluminum alloys, severe plastic deformation, equal-channel angular pressing

Issue: 2015 Volume 52, Issue 4

Pages:

Publication date: 2015/12/30