Numerical and experimental studies on deformation behavior of 5083 aluminum alloy strips in equal channel angular rolling

Improvement of mechanical properties of metal strips can be achieved by producing ultra-fine grained microstructure. The equal channel angular rolling process is one of the effective severe plastic deformation techniques which can lead to proper ultra-fine grained structures. In this research, the influence of process parameters such as pre–equal channel angular rolling annealing temperature, number of equal channel angular rolling passes, routes and post–equal channel angular rolling annealing on deformation behavior of 5083 Al alloy is investigated by experimental studies and numerical simulations. Metallurgical investigations revealed that grain refinement and increased dislocation density are two effective parameters on the mechanical strength improvement. The investigation of mechanical properties demonstrated that increasing number of equal channel angular rolling passes leads to a considerable increase in yield stress, ultimate tensile strength and hardness. In contrast, elongation was dramatically reduced. Also, improvement of mechanical properties reaches saturation at a critical strain level, depending on the microstructure evolution. In addition, investigation of effects of post–equal channel angular rolling annealing on the specimens annealed at 415 °C indicated that elongation and toughness increase, accompanying with a low decrease in yield and tensile strengths and hardness. In this study, the equal channel angular rolling process was numerically simulated using ABAQUS software in two different routes for three passes. It is shown that upper roller force is increased by increasing the number of equal channel angular rolling passes, but the rate of this increase is reduced at higher passes.