On the Production of Severely Deformed Workpieces in Large Scales: A Step Towards Industrialization

Improvement of the functional properties of aluminium and its alloys by grain refinement is an effective way to increase their applications. The capability of severe plastic deformation methods to produce ultrafine-grained materials has been well established. However, their industrial application is limited because of the required additional equipment and limitation of the product size. Due to the direct extrusion characteristic of the simple shear extrusion (SSE) method and consequently the minimal additional tools and expenses, SSE is a good candidate for commercialization. The aim of this research is to scale up the SSE products to facilitate their potential use in practical applications. To overcome the limitation on the length of the plunger and reduce the load of the SSE process, a design is proposed in the current research. Microstructural investigations and mechanical tests of commercial pure aluminium (AA1050) workpieces confirm the effectiveness of the proposed design on the grain refinement and its capability to reduce the processing load.