Large-scale manufacturing of aluminum alloy plate extruded from subsize billet by new porthole-equal channel angular processing technique

To manufacture plate by the combination of equal channel angular processing （ECAP） and porthole die extrusion techniques, a novel technique, namely portholes-equal channel angular processing （P-ECAP）, was studied. Extrusion of AL6005A plate used for the bullet train plate was investigated by finite element method. The relevant porthole dies involving ECAP technique in channels were designed. Dimensional changes in the scrap part of the extrudate obtained after extrusion from the P-ECAP die, with different channel angles, were predicted. Effects of the channel angle and extrusion speed on the maximum temperature of the workpiece and other field variables were evaluated. At the channel angle of 160° of P-ECAP dies, the extrudate exhibited the optimal performance and the least amount of extrudate scrap was obtained. The optimal extrusion speed was 3-5 mm/s. Moreover, with the increase in ram speed from 1 to 9 mm/s, the peak extrusion load increased by about 49% and the maximum temperature was increased by about 70 ℃. The effective strain exhibited ascending trend in the comer of the ECAP deformation zone. In the solder seam and the side of die bearing of extrudate, the maximum principal stresses were tensile stress.

A new method of characterizing equivalent strain for equal channel angular processing

In order to establish the quantitative relationship between equivalent strain and the performance index of the deformed material within the range of certain passes for equal channel angular processing （ECAP）, a new approach to characterize the equivalent strain was proposed. The results show that there exists better accordance between mechanical property （such as hardness or strength） and equivalent strain after rolling and ECAP in a certain range of deformation amount, and Gauss equation can be satisfied among the equivalent strain and the mechanical properties for ECAP. Through regression analysis on the data of hardness and strength after the deformation, a more generalized expression of equivalent strain for ECAP is proposed as：ε=k0exp[-（k1M-k2）^2], where M is the strength or hardness of the material, k1 is the modified coefficient （k1∈ （0, 1））, ko and k2 are two parameters dependent on the critical strain and mechanical property that reaches saturation state for the material, respectively. In this expression the equivalent strain for ECAP is characterized novelly through the mechanical parameter relating to material property rather than the classical geometry equation.

Mechanical responses, texture and microstructural evolution of high purity aluminum deformed by equal channel angular pressing

Ultrafine-grained(UFG) high purity aluminum exhibits a variety of attractive mechanical properties and special deformation behavior. Equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) process can be used to easily and effectively refine metals. The microstructure and microtexture evolutions and grain boundary characteristics of the high purity aluminum(99.998%) processed by ECAP at room temperature are investigated by means of TEM and EBSD. The results indicate that the shear deformation resistance increases with repeated EACP passes, and equiaxed grains with an average size of 0.9 μm in diameter are formed after five passes. Although the orientations distribution of grains tends to evolve toward random orientations, and microtextures(80°, 35°, 0°),(40°, 75°, 45°) and(0°, 85°, 45°) peak in the sample after five passes. The grain boundaries in UFG aluminum are high-angle geometrically necessary boundaries. It is suggested that the continuous dynamic recrystallization is responsible for the formation of ultrafine grains in high purity aluminum. Microstructure evolution in the high purity aluminum during ECAP is proposed.

Underwater friction stir welding of ultrafine grained 2017 aluminum alloy

2017 aluminum alloy plates with an ultrafine grained （UFG） structure were produced by equal channel angular processing （ECAP） and then were joined by underwater friction stir welding （underwater FSW）. X-ray diffractometer （XRD）, transmission electron microscope （TEM）, scanning electron microscope （SEM） and microhardness tester were adopted to investigate the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of the FSW joint. The results indicate that an ultrafine grained microstructure with the mean grain size of-0.7 Ixm is obtained in the weld nugget by using water cooling. However, The FSW joint exhibits softening compared with the ultrafine grained based material and the heat affected zone （HAZ） has the lowest hardness owing to the coarsening of the strengthening precipitates.

Evolution of secondary phase particles during deformation of Al-5Ti-1B master alloy and their effect on α-Al grain refinement

Addition of Al-5Ti-1B alloy to molten aluminum alloys can refine α-Al grains effectively and thereby improve their strength and toughness. TiAl;and TiB;in Al-5Ti-1B alloy are the main secondary-phase particles for refinement, while the understanding on the effect of their sizes on α-Al grain refinement continues to be fragmented. Therefore, Al-5Ti-1B alloys with various sizes and morphologies of the secondary-phase particles were prepared by equal channel angular pressing（ECAP）. Evolution of the secondary-phase particles during ECAP process and their impact on α-Al grain refinement were studied by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope（SEM）. Results show that during the ECAP process, micro-cracks firstly appeared inside TiAl;particles and then gradually expanded, which resulted in continuous refinement of TiAl;particles. In addition, micro-distribution uniformity of TiB;particles was improved due to the impingement of TiAl;particles to TiB;clusters during deformation. Excessively large sizes of TiAl;particles would reduce the number of effective heterogeneous nucleus and thus resulted in poor grain refinement effectiveness. Moreover, excessively small TiAl;particles would reduce inhibitory factors for grain growth Q and weaken grain refinement effectiveness. Therefore, an optimal size range of 18-22 μm for TiAl;particles was suggested.

Controlling Corrosion Resistance of a Biodegradable Mg–Y–Zn Alloy with LPSO Phases via Multi-pass ECAP Process

Mg-RE(rear earth) alloys with long period stacking(LPSO) structures have great potential in biomedical applications. The present work focused on the microstructure and corrosion behaviors of Mg 98.5 Y1 Zn0.5 alloys with 18 R LPSO structure after equal channel angular pressing(ECAP). The results showed that the ECAP process changed the grain size and the distribution of LPSO particles thus controlled the total corrosion rates of Mg 98.5 Y1 Zn0.5 alloys. During the ECAP process from 0 p to 12 p, the grain size reduced from 160–180 μm(as-cast) to 6–8 μm(12 p). The LPSO structures became kinked(4 p), then started to be broken into smaller pieces(8 p), and at last comminuted to fine particles and redistributed uniformly inside the matrix(12 p). The improvement in the corrosion resistance for ECAP samples was obtained from 0 p to 8 p, with the corrosion rate reduced from 3.24 mm/year(0 p) to 2.35 mm/year(8 p) in simulated body fluid, and the 12 p ECAP alloy exhibited the highest corrosion rate of 4.54 mm/year.