Severe plastic deformation by solid state infiltration

We propose to use porous steel 'dies' for solid state 'infiltration' with a metallic material by a variant of the known forcefill process. Severe plastic deformation (SPD) that occurs during the material's plastic flow through a tortuous channel is believed to lead to grain refinement and an improvement of mechanical properties referred to as micro SPD. First, experimental results on solid state infiltration of steel with aluminium by this process that we refer to as micro SPD will be presented. The dependence of the penetration depth on the average pore size in the micrometer range are discussed along with the effect of the process parameters on the properties of aluminium after solid state infiltration.