Grain refinement and mechanical properties of pure aluminum processed by accumulative extrusion bonding

Ultrafine-grained aluminum processed by a new severe plastic deformation technique, accumulative extrusion bonding (AEB), was investigated. Microstructural characterization indicated good interfacial bonding and an average grain size of similar to 440 nm was obtained after six passes. Tensile testing revealed that the strength reached the maximum value of 195 MPa and the total elongation exceeded 16% after five passes. The hardness was also significantly improved and almost reached saturation after the first pass. SEM fractography of AEB-processed specimens after tensile test showed that failure mode was shear ductile fracture with elongated shallow dimples. Comparison with conventional accumulative roll bonding indicates that this new AEB technique is more effective in refining grain and improving mechanical properties of the specimens.