Microstructrual evolution of aluminum 6061 alloy through tube channel pressing

The evolution of microstructure and the mechanical properties of an aluminum 6061 alloy tube subjected to a novel severe plastic deformation process called tube channel pressing were studied. Results show that the tube channel pressing causes an impressive grain refinement and strengthening of the material. As an illustration, mostly ultrafine grained tube (D¯=760nm) bearing the yield strength of 352 MPa can be obtained after 5 passes of tube channel pressing. Additionally, the tube channel pressing causes the heterogeneous grain refinement resulting in a bimodal distribution of size of grains after 7th pass. Therefore, it can be inferred that the main microstructure refining mechanism caused by tube channel pressing process is intersection of microshear-bands.