Isothermal Upset Forging of AA5083 after Severe Plastic Deformation by ECAE

Abstract This work presents a study related to the achievement of forged billets using plane-shape dies from a 5083 aluminium alloy previously processed by the Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD) process known as ECAE (Equal Channel Angular Extrusion). ECAE is one of the most well-known SPD processes and in this study, it is going to be employed in order to obtain nano-structured starting material. Changes in the microhardness and in the microstructure of the isothermally upset-forged billets have been studied after having been processed by ECAE. Isothermal upsetting tests were performed at different values of strain, temperature and compression velocity. Furthermore, optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques have been utilised in order to analyse the final microstructure. As will be shown in this present study, ECAE improves the forgeability of AA-5083 and, after the upsetting process, submicrometric grain size material is attained.