Evolution of microstructure and hardness in aluminum processed by High Pressure Torsion Extrusion

Abstract An investigation was conducted on aluminum samples (AA1050) to study the microstructure and hardness evolution during processing by High Pressure Torsion Extrusion (HPTE). The equivalent strain accumulated in the samples after one pass of HPTE varied in a wide range between 0.9 and 65.5, depending on the processing parameters. HPTE led to the formation of a gradient microstructure in which the grain size decreased by increasing the distance from the central axis of the billets. This gradient decreased significantly by increasing the ratio of rotational speed to extrusion speed. Most of the grain refinement and hardness-increase occurred up to the equivalent strain of ∼5 but saturation level was achieved at the strain of ∼20. Saturation levels in grain size and hardness were ∼0.7 μm and ∼67 HV, respectively. HPTE technique can provide similar saturation in microstructure and hardness as those obtained by HPT but in much larger samples. Therefore, HPTE can be a named as a suitable candidate for practical applications to produce bulk ultrafine-grained materials with considerable enhancement in hardness.