Microstructural and Mechanical Characteristics of the ECAPed P/M 6061 Al Alloy

ECAP가공한 P/M 6061 Al 합금의 미세조직과 기계적 성질

Microstructural and mechanical characteristics of P/M 6061 Al alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) were investigated. The P/M 6061 Al alloy had an intial grain size of approximately $20\mutextrm{m}$. An equiaxed ultra-fine grained structure with the mean grain size of $~50 \mutextrm{m}$ was obtained by four repetitive ECAP at 473 K. The microhardness of P/M 6061 Al alloy was drastically increased from about 40 Hv to 80 Hv by two repetitive ECAP at 373 K. However, the microhardness decreased with increasing ECAP temperature. The tensile stength of as-hot-pressed P/M 6061 Al alloy before ECAP was 95 MPa, whereas it increased to both 248 MPa after two repetitive ECAP at 373 K and 130 MPa after four repetitive ECAP at 473 K. The tensile properties of the ECAPed sample were compared with those of commercial cast 6061-O and 6061-T4 Al alloys.