Grain Refinement through Shear Banding in Severely Plastic Deformed A206 Aluminum Alloy

The present work is conducted to study the microstructure and texture evolutions in an as-cast A206 aluminum alloy after applying severe plastic deformation. Toward this end, the material is severely deformed through accumulative back extrusion (ABE) technique at 200 degrees C and followed by assessing the room temperature mechanical properties of the products. The macro shear-bands formation in the highly strained regions can result in grain refinement through the geometric dynamic recrystallization mechanism. A significant refinement is also characterized within the micro shear-bands; this is attributed to the intensified substructure development and the occurrence of continuous dynamic recrystallization. The corresponding inverse pole figure maps show similar orientation for these newly refined grains with the parent ones. A random texture is produced through sub-grain rotation to dissimilar orientation at the intersection of micro-bands. The assessment of mechanical properties of the processed materials reveal significant increase in both yield and ultimate tensile strength values. The hardness profiles also demonstrate a relatively homogenous microstructure after three and five ABE passes holding a mean hardness value of 183 Vickers.