Evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties in equal channel angular pressing (ECAP)of AI/CU Alloys

The average grain size of the material has an important effect on the <mechanical properties. Nowadays severe plastic deformation especially equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is considered one of the important techniques used for the grain refinement. Al and Al alloys are considered the most popular materials used for ECAP process, but few works were available on AI-Cu alloys processed by ECAP. In the present work ECAP process of Al and Al -2,3and 5%Cu alloys were deformed using ECAP with different number of passes using a die angle of 110° and imposed strain of O.77per pass. The energy dispersive analysis of X-rays ( EDX ) of Al -Cu cast alloy was performed in order to confirm the Cu content in each alloy before the ECAP. The microstructure evolution of the AI and AI -Cu alloys was also investigated before and afterthe process .using optical, Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) and Scanning Electronic Backscatter Diffraction Microscope (SEM EBSD).