The effect of a new route on the microstructure and property of 6063 alloy during the ECAP deformation

Abstract

Abstract The microstructures and hardness of 6063 Al alloy subjected to different ECAP route (Bc and the new route) were investigated. These two routes have different rotation scheme of a sample around its long axis between two consecutive ECAP passes: Bc route, by which sample were rotated in the same direction by 90°; the new route, by which sample were rotated in the same direction by 135°. The feature microstructures of the samples subjected to the two routes were investigated by the optical microscopy (OM) and transition electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. In comparison, the pressing by the new route produces more homogeneous microstructure with the higher fraction of high angle boundaries. Furthermore, the hardness results showed that work hardening can be observed and do not depend much on the ECAP route. However, distribution of hardness in cross-sections of samples revealed that processing to total passes number of eight by the new route improves deformation uniformity.