Investigation of mechanical properties and fracture surfaces of 5086 Al-based alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing in different routes

Equal channel angular pressing has been among prominent part of procedures employed for the fabrication of the ultrafine-grained structures of various severe plastic deformation techniques. The objective of this paper was to experimentally investigate the influence of the process in the two rotational routes A and Bc on the mechanical properties of Al 5086 alloy. Specimens were processed up to 10 passes at 150 ºC in a die with 120º internal angle. To evaluate the mechanical properties, uni-axial tensile and hardness tests were performed on the specimens. The results showed that in all passes, the route Bc had a higher effect on the simultaneous improvement of strength, elongation, and hardness. Investigation of the fracture surface using Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed that increasing the number of passes led to raising the number of dimples and the better distribution of them for both routes. The textures were also studied using the X-ray diffraction patterns. The results showed the dominant texture was altered from (111) to (220) plane by increasing the number of passes through both routs.