Severe plastic deformation is an effective method for improving the mechanical properties of metallic alloys through promoting the grain structure. In the present work, simple cyclic extrusion compression technique (SCEC) has been developed for producing a fine structure of cast Al-1 wt. % Cu alloy and consequently enhancing the mechanical properties of the studied alloy. It was found that the grain structure was significantly reduced from 1500 µm to 100 µm after two passes of cyclic extrusion. The ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure of the as-cast alloy were 110 MPa and 12 %, respectively. However, the corresponding mechanical properties of the two pass CEC deformed alloy are 275 MPa and 35%, respectively. These findings ensure that a significant improvement in the grain structure has been achieved. Also, cyclic extrusion deformation increased the surface hardness of the alloy by 49 % after two passes. FE-simulation model was adopted to simulate the deformation behavior of the material during the cyclic extrusion process using DEFORMTM-3D Ver11.0. The FE-results revealed that SCEC technique was able to impose severe plastic strains with the number of passes. The model was able to predict the damage, punch load, back pressure, and deformation behavior.
Comparative study of microstructure evaluation and mechanical properties of 4043 aluminum alloy fabricated by wire-based additive manufacturing
