Microstructure evolution of pure copper during a single pass of simple shear extrusion (SSE): role of shear reversal

In the present paper the role of shear reversal on microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of pure copper during a single pass of the simple shear extrusion (SSE) process was investigated. For SSE processing an appropriate die with a linear die profile was designed and constructed, which imposes forward shear in the first half and reverse shear in the second half channels. Electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to evaluate the microstructure of the deformed samples. The geometrical nature of this process imposes a distribution of strain results in the inhomogeneous microstructure and the hardness throughout the plane perpendicular to the extrusion direction. Strain reversal during the process results in a slight reduction in dislocation density, the hardness and mean disorientation angle of the samples, and an increase in the grain size. After a complete pass of SSE, dislocation density decreased by ~14% if compared to the middle of the process. This suggests that the dislocation annihilation occurred by the reversal of the shear strain. The simple shear textures were formed gradually and the strongest simple shear textures were observed on the middle of the SSE channel. The degree of the simple shear textures decreases with the distance from the middle plane where the shear is reversed, but the simple shear textures are still the major components after exit of the channel. Hardness variation was modeled by contributions from dislocation strengthening and grain boundary strengthening, where dislocation density is approximated by the misorientation angle of LAGBs which are regarded as dislocation cell boundaries. As a result, the hardness can be predicted successfully by the microstructural features, i.e. the low-angle boundaries, the mean misorientation angle and the fraction of high-angle grain boundaries.