Production of Ultrafine-Grained Aluminum Alloys in Upsized Sheets Using Process of Incremental Feeding High-Pressure Sliding (IF-HPS)

Abstract

This study introduces a process of severe plastic deformation (SPD) called incremental feeding high-pressure sliding (IF-HPS) where significant grain refinement is possible in an enlarged sheet area. The IF-HPS process is applied to Al alloys such as A1050, A3105, A5052 and A5182. The grain sizes were refined to the submicrometer ranges and the tensile strength increased to almost twice as much as the annealed states. The conditions for the IF-HPS process are optimized so that the tensile strength remains high without initiation of cracks. The process conditions are also investigated to achieve homogeneous development of the tensile properties throughout the processed sheets. It is demonstrated that the IF-HPS process is useful to extend the SPD-processed area without increasing the machine capacity while maintaining enhanced mechanical properties.