Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Two-Pass Hydrostatic Cyclic Expansion Extrusion Process on the Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Pure Copper Tubes

Hydrostatic tube cyclic expansion extrusion process is a newly invented severe plastic deformation technique for producing long ultrafine-grained and nanostructured tubes with higher mechanical properties. In the present research, this process was applied through two passes at room temperature on the commercial purity copper. Then, the hardness, tensile properties, fracture surface and microstructure of the samples were evaluated. The main goal of this research was to achieve a material with a simultaneous high strength and desirable ductility. In this process, the utilization of pressurized fluid between the die and the tube leads to first, the desired improvement of mechanical properties due to the effects of hydrostatic compressive stress. Second, the reduction of a required deforming force to eliminating the friction between the die and the tube leads to the facilitation of producing relatively long ultrafine-grained and nanostructured tubes. After two passes of process, a nearly equiaxed and homogeneous ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure was observed. The yield strength and ultimate strength increased from 75 MPa and 207 MPa to 310 MPa and 386 MPa, respectively. However, elongation to failure decreased from 55% to 37%. Also, the hardness value of the tube increased significantly from 59 Hv to 143 Hv, and the uniform distribution of hardness was obtained through the thickness of the tube. The fractography evaluations revealed that the predominantly ductile fracture happened in all samples of tensile testing. The hydrostatic tube cyclic expansion extrusion process can be utilized as a practical industrial method for producing relatively long ultrafine-grained tubes.