Using ball-indentation to evaluate the properties of an ultrafine-grained Al–2% Si alloy processed by ECAP
✍ Scribed by K. Venkateswarlu; Gautam Das; A.K. Pramanik; Cheng Xu; Terence G. Langdon
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 406 KB
- Volume
- 427
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0921-5093
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✦ Synopsis
As-cast Al-Si alloys exhibit excellent mechanical properties but these properties may be further improved through processing by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP). In this investigation, specimens of a hypo-eutectic Al-2% Si alloy were successfully pressed up to a maximum of four passes at room temperature and the microstructures and mechanical properties were evaluated. The results show that pressing through four passes reduces the grain size from ∼40 to ∼0.70 m, reduces the size of the Si particles from ∼12.0 to ∼1.08 m and increases the yield stress and the ultimate tensile strength by a factor of ∼2 by comparison with the as-cast alloy. The mechanical properties were examined using a ball-indentation technique (BIT). It is suggested that, since BIT provides the capability of obtaining extensive mechanical data using only a very small sample, it is an ideal technique for evaluating the properties of samples processed by ECAP.