• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2016

Although magnesium alloy has received much attention to date for its lightweight and high specific strength, their applications are impeded by the low formability which is caused by the hexagonal crystal structure at room temperature. In general, equal-channel angular extrusion(ECAE) is recognized as one of the attractive severe plastic deformation techniques where the processed bulk metals generally achieve ultrafine-grained microstructure leading to improved physical characteristics and mechanical properties. ECAE process has several parameters such as angle of die, process temperature, process route and speed. During ECAE process of Mg alloy, these parameters has great influence on the extrudability and the mechanical properties of alloy. The aim of this study is to estimate the influences of process conditions on the formability of AZ31 and AZ31-CaO alloys. Mg alloys are processed through ECAE at elevated temperatures using three types of die with channel angle of $90^{\circ}$, $110^{\circ}$, $135^{\circ}$ using route $B_c$, respectively. This study discusses the feasibility of using ECAE to improve both formability and strength on magnesium alloys by comparative analyzing the mechanical properties and microstructural evolution in each condition.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.204-209
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• 2008

Aluminum alloys are not only lightweight materials, but also have excellent thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity and workability, hence, they are widely used in industry. It is important to control and enhance the densification behavior of metal powders of aluminum. Investigation on the extrusion processing combined with equal channel angular pressing for densification of aluminum powders was performed in order to develop a continuous production process. The continuous processing achieved high effective strain and full relative density at $200^{\circ}C$. Optimum processing conditions were suggested for good mechanical properties. The results of this simulation helped to understand the distribution of relative density and effective strain.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2004

In this paper processing and mechanical properties of Al-20 wt％ Si alloy was studied. A bulk form of Al-20Si alloy was prepared by gas atomizing powders having the powder size of 106-145 ${\mu}m$ and powder extrusion. The powder extrudate was subsequently equal channel angular pressed up to 8 passes in order to refine grain and Si particle. The microstructure of the gas atomized powders, powder extrudates and equal channel angular pressed samples were investigated using a scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. The mechanical properties of the bulk sample were measured by compressive tests and a micro Victors hardness test. Equal channel angular pressing was found to be effective in matrix grain and Si particle refinement, which enhanced the strength and hardness of the Al-2OSi alloy without deteriorating ductility in the range of experimental strain of 30％.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2014

Half channel angular extrusion(HCAE) is the integration of equal channel angular extrusion(ECAE), which is a well-known severe plastic deformation(SPD) method, with conventional forward extrusion in order to increase the strain per pass and effectiveness of the grain refinement. In the current study, the effects of processing routes during HCAE(Routes A, B, and C) on the strain distribution of the specimens have been investigated for an AZ61 Mg alloy by using three-dimensional finite element analysis. Comparisons with the results from a multi-pass of ECAE are made.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.120-127
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• 2013

A novel severe plastic deformation process named half channel angular extrusion (HCAE) is proposed in order to produce bulk UFG materials. In HCAE process, equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) and conventional forward extrusion process is integrated to increase the strain per pass and effectiveness of the SPD process. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was carried out to study the deformation behavior of the materials in the HCAE process. HCAE process was performed experimentally on commercially pure aluminum (AA1050) and micro-Vickers hardness test was used to measure the distribution of hardness on the section of normal to the extrusion direction. The results show that HCAE is able to impose more intensive strains per pass and give rise to higher micro-hardness than ECAE.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.937-944
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• 2015

Recently, the change of mechanical properties and microstructural evolution during severe plastic deformation (SPD), such as Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE), has been the subject of intensive investigation because of the unique physical and mechanical properties of severely deformed materials. In this study, two types of ECAE processes were considered, dies with intersection angles ${\Phi}$ of $90^{\circ}$ and $120^{\circ}$, using experiments and simulations. The decoupled method, in which the rigid-plastic finite element method is incorporated with the rate-independent crystal plasticity model, was applied to predict the texture evolution in commercially pure aluminum during the ECAE processes with $120^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ dies. The simulated textures were compared with a measured texture via an EBSD OIM analysis. The comparison showed that the simulated textures generally were in good agreement with the experimentally measured texture.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.397-405
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• 2009

The high strain rate deformation behavior of ultra-fine grained 5083 aluminum alloys prepared via equal channel angular (ECA) extrusion was investigated in this study. The microstructure of ECA extruded specimens consisted of ultra-fine grains, and contained a considerable amount of second phase particles, which were fragmented and distributed homogeneously in the matrix. According to the dynamic torsion test results, the maximum shear stress and fracture shear strain of the route A (no rotation) specimen were lower than those of route C ($180^{\circ}$ rotation) specimen since that adiabatic shear bands of $100{\mu}m$ in width were formed in the route A specimen. The formation of adiabatic shear bands was addressed by concepts of critical shear strain, deformation energy required for void initiation, and microstructural homogeneity associated with ECA operations.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.34-38
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• 2016

In this paper, a transversely isotropic behavior of AZ31 Mg alloy produced by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) process was investigated through tensile test and microstructure observation. The effects of initial ECAP pass number on the anisotropic behavior and mechanical properties of the Mg alloy are evaluated after conventional direct extrusion test, which are carried out at a temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. As a result of the tensile test in three directions ($0^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, and $90^{\circ}$ to the extrusion direction of the sheet) at room temperature, elongation of as-extruded AZ31 alloy(ECAP for 0 pass) showed an unusual anisotropic behavior depending on the extrusion direction although the yield strength and tensile strength are similar to the ECAPed AZ31 alloy. After ECAP for 4 passes at $200^{\circ}C$, microstructural observations of ECAPed magnesium alloy showed a significant grain refinement, which is leading to an equiaxed grain structure with average size of $2.5{\mu}m$. The microstructures of the extruded billet are observed by the use of an electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD) technique to evaluate of the influence on the grain refinement during extrusion process and re-crystallization mechanism of AZ31 Mg alloy.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.206-210
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• 2011

We fabricated rod-like poly(lactic acid)(PLA) specimens through applying various methods of equal-channel angular extrusion(ECAE) process and investigated the change of thermal and mechanical properties of specimens before and after each ECAE process. Combining three re-injection routes(A, BC, and C) and three pass counts(1, 2 and 4) allowed us to fabricate 7 different PLA specimens. Thermal properties of each specimen were measured by both differential scanning calorimeter and thermo-gravimetric analyzer. Shear strains of each specimen with respect to applied loads were measured by indentation hardness tester. Field emmision scanning electron microscopy was used to observe internal microstructure of cross-section of each specimen. The observed microstructures qualitatively supported the explanation of hardness test results. Among 7 specimens, PLA-P2A showed the biggest shear strain probably due to its dense microstructure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.785-792
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• 2011

Equal channel angular(ECA) pressing is the established processing technique in which a polycrystalline metal is pressed through the die to achieve a very high plastic strain. Therefore, the capability to produce an ultra-fine grain size in the materials is provided. To investigate that mechanical properties at elevated temperature have the ultrafine grain ECA pressing, experiments were conducted on an Al-4.8% Mg-0.07% Mn-O.06% Si alloy. After having been solution treated at 773K for 2hrs, the billet for ECA pressing was inserted into the die. And it was pressed through two channel of equal to cross section intersecting at a 90 degree angle. The billet can be extrude repeatedly because of 1:1 extrusion ratio. Since the billet is passed through the cannel for 2 times, a large strain is accumulated in the alloy. The tensile tests on elevated temperature were carried out with initial strain rate of $10^{-3}s^{-1}$ at eight temperature distributed from 293K to 673K.