Deformation behaviour and mechanical properties of polypropylene processed by equal channel angular extrusion: Effects of back-pressure and extrusion velocity

Severe plastic deformation by equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) is an ingenious deformation process used to modify texture and microstructure without reducing sample cross-section. The application of single ECAE pass to polypropylene (PP) was meticulously investigated at room temperature using a 90° die-angle tooling. The ECAE-induced deformation behaviour was examined in relation to the load versus ram-displacement curves. Depending on extrusion conditions, PP displayed various types of plastic flow. For ram velocities beyond 4.5 mm/min, severe shear bands consisting of successive translucent and opaque bands were observed, accompanied on the top surface by more or less pronounced periodic waves. Although the application of a back-pressure significantly reduced the wave and shear-banding phenomena, slightly inhomogeneous shear deformation was still observed. Shear bands were only suppressed by decreasing extrusion velocity. The strain-induced crystalline microstructure was investigated by X-ray scattering. Shear-banded samples exhibited a strong texturing of the (hk0) planes along the shear direction in the translucent bands whereas perfect crystalline isotropy appeared in the opaque bands. Application of back-pressure and/or reducing ram velocity resulted in uniform texturing along the extruded sample. Yet, texturing changed from single shear to twin-like shear orientation about the shear direction. Mechanical properties changes of the extruded samples due to back-pressure and extrusion velocity effects were analyzed via uniaxial tensile tests. The tensile samples displayed multiple strain localizations in shear-banded materials whereas quite homogeneous deformation appeared for non-banded ones. These effects were connected with the crystalline texturing. The results also revealed significant increase in the strain hardening after ECAE. Digital image correlation technique suitable for large deformation was used for determining the full-field strain of the tensile samples in relation to tensile strain and ECAE conditions.