Structuration of Refractory Metals Tantalum and Niobium Using Modified Equal Channel Angular Pressing Technique

In the present work, we use a modified Equal Channel Angular Pressing technique for structure and properties change of Tantalum and Niobium at room temperature. The main advantage of this modified technique is the possibility to produce relatively large samples with ultrafine-grained microstructure in all volume of the workpiece by reduced deformation load up to 25% via friction decrease, and also to prevent the punch fracture under high compression stress during pressing. The various microstructures and properties were produced in metals by using different von Mises strain levels up to ƐvM = 13.8. The changes in microstructure were studied by using SEM and TEM techniques. The change of mechanical properties was measured by using various tension and hardness testing setups. We can conclude that during processing the ultrafine-grained microstructure in as-cast Nb and Ta was formed. The uniaxial tensile strength, Vickers hardness, and plasticity of Nb and Ta significantly increased as compared to coarse-grained counterparts. We believe that the relatively large workpieces of pure bulk Ta and Nb metals with improved microstructure and exploitation properties are suitable materials for the modern industry.