Enhanced mechanical properties and electrical conductivity in ultrafine-grained Al alloy processed via ECAP-PC

The objective of this work is to study the effect of grain refinement using equal channel angular pressing with parallel channels (ECAP-PC) on microstructure, mechanical properties, and electrical conductivity of an Al-Mg-Si alloy. The coarse grained (CG) material is subjected to ECAP-PC processing at 100 A degrees C for 1, 2, and 6 passes. Mechanical behavior of the Al-Mg-Si alloy after ECAP-PC processing and its electrical conductivity are analyzed with respect to the microstructure developed during ECAP-PC processing. The effect of artificial aging (AA) on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and electrical conductivity of the ECAP-PC processed Al-Mg-Si alloy is investigated. It is shown that the microstructure developed during ECAP-PC processing affects the kinetics of the aging process that, in turn, affects the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the material. It is demonstrated that both mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the Al-Mg-Si alloy can be simultaneously enhanced via intelligent microstructural design through optimization of the thermo-mechanical processing applied to this material.