Experimental Study of Impact Strength of Al-6063 Alloy Processed by Equal Channel Angular Extrusion
In the present study, the impact strength of annealed Al-6063 alloy developed by equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE), up to 6 passes at a temperature of 200°C following route A with a constant ram speed of 30 mm/min through a die angle of 90° between the die channels was investigated. The impact strength of extruded specimens is evaluated for different passes at a strain rate of 1800 s-1 using Split-Hopkinson pressure bar techniques. The results indicate that the major strength improvement occurs in the 5th and 6th passes while in primary passes, the strength improved but at a considerably lower rate. A total increasing in ultimate strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) are 127% and 65% respectively and observed for the extruded material after 6 passes. Optical microscopic examinations show a grain refinement from 45 μm to 2.8 μm.