Properties and deformation behaviour of severe plastic deformed aluminium alloys

Two and three dimensional FEM analysis of different aluminium alloys by equal channel angular pressing using Abaqus code show lower equivalent plastic strain on outer side of both transverse and longitudinal sections of workpiece. HV hardness and microhardness tests on different ecapped alloys show that the outer sides of processed alloys also are characterized by lower values. Microstructure analysis of different areas of processed specimens after one pass indicate that the areas of lowest equivalent plastic strain exhibit an almost undeformed microstructure. Moreover the effect of strain hardening rate (SHR) has been investigated. According to FEM analysis a higher strain hardening rate leads to a larger natural corner gap, a lower equivalent plastic strain and a wider extension of outer less deformed zone.