A

SEMINAR PRESENTATION ON
“Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP)”

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Malaviya National Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jaipur
Session 2018- 2019
Guided by: Submitted by:
Dr. V. K. Sharma Anup Kumar Maurya
ID:2017PMT5433
Material Tetrahedron
 Social/Economical
AEROSPACE APPLICATION DEFENCE APPLICATION

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRIES MEDICAL IMPLANTS

 Ultra-fined Grain Materials

• Mechanical and physical properties of all crystalline material are determined by several factor like
average grain size of material plays a dominant role.
• The grain size is the major microstructural parameter indicating the properties of a polycrystalline
materials.
• The significance of decreasing grain size leads to the production of ultra fined grain
materials(UFG) which have one dimension in the order of 100-1000 nm.
• The precise significance of grain size is dependent upon two relationship that are applicable at
either low or high operating temperature-:(i) Hall-Petch relationship (ii) Steady state strain rate
• The grain refinement causes a significant increase in strength in bulk metallic materials due to the
Hall–Petch relationship which connects the mechanical properties and microstructural features
such as the grain size.
At low operating temperature, the strength follow Hall-Petch relationship:

where, σy is Yield stress, σ₀ is the lattice friction stress, ky is a constant of yielding and
d is the grain size.
• Thus, the strength of the material increases when the grain size reduced. So in order to improve the
strength, the grain structure of the material is systematically altered by-:
a) Increasing the number of dislocations and grain boundaries.
b) Varying orientation of the grains and associated grain boundaries.
How does one obtain UFG materials?
• Metals having grain sizes smaller than 100-1000nm may be produced
in two fundamentally different ways.
A) Bottom-up approach-: It refers to the build up of a material from
bottom: atom by atom, molecule by molecule or cluster by cluster.
a) Deposition techniques
b) Nanoscale building blocks
B) Top-down approach-: It refers to slicing or successive cutting of a
bulk material to get nano sized particle.
a) Severe plastic deformation process like ECAP
b) Ultrasonic shot pinning
• So we are into severe plastic deformation only including
HPT, ECAP Constraint Groove Pressing, RCS,ARB etc.
 Severe Plastic Deformation
• SPD is generic term describe a group of metal working techniques involving using extreme plastic
straining resulting in ultrafine grain.
• Severe plastic deformation is process of refining the microstructure of material into equiaxed
ultrafine grain.
 Severe Plastic Deformation Techniques
• Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP)
• High Pressure Torsion(HPT)
• Friction Stir Processing(FSP)
• Rotary Swaging(RS)
• Cryogenic Shock Loading(CSL)
• Accumulating Roll Bending(ARB)
• Cyclic Channel Die Compression (CCDC)
 Equal Channel Angular Pressing
• Vladimir Segal invented Equal Channel Angular Pressing

(ECAP) in the former Soviet Union (USSR) in 1977.

• ECAP is the most promising material processing techniques

involves severe plastic deformation in order to make

ultra-fine grained and nanocrystalline metals and alloys

in which an ultra-large plastic strain is imposed on a bulk

material.

• It induce large plastic deformation to materials without

changing the size or general shape or dimensions of the billet.

• In contrast to rolling, drawing, extrusion, the main purpose of ECAP is to accumulate deformation
in material without any reduction in workpiece cross-section.
• Effective process to produce materials with increased mechanical properties.
• ECAP has been extensively used to refine microstructures of ductile metals and alloys and to
improve mechanical behavior.
 ECAP Technology
• Metal billet is passed through an angular die.
• Severe plastic strain can be accumulated by pure shear deformation.
• To achieve the required strain in ECAP, the billet is processed
repeatedly in the same die.
• Deformation occurs without any cross sectional change in the billet.
• The billet can rotate about its axis between each pass.
• Three basic option for rotation are A, B, C.
• Obtaining homogeneous equiaxed grains separated by high angle
boundaries C is used.
Mechanism Of ECAP
• For route A, In the place of intersection of channel the grain takes a shape of an ellipsoid during
first pass due to pure shear.
• Following passes result in lengthening of axis 1 and the ellipsoid is elongated.
• At the same time the direction of shear is turned around the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal
section of the channels.
• The repeat pass in the route B leads to a change in the direction of shear and the shear plane is
turned through the angle 120⁰.
• During deformation by route C the repeat pass leads to shear in the same plane but in the opposite
direction. The grain again takes a spherical shape.
• ECAP process should be done in a high temperature with alloying low strain rate or back pressure.
 Factor Influencing Grain Refinement In ECAP
• There are four factors that influencing grain refinement in ECAP-:

1. Channel and curvature angles of the die

2. Processing routes

3. Pressing speed

4. Pressing temperature
Channel and Curvature Angles of the Die-:
• The channel angle is the most significant experimental factor that affects grain refinement because
it dictates the total strain imposed in each pass.
• The angle of curvature denotes the outer arc where the two parts of the channel intercept within the
die.

FIGURE: Schematic illustrations of the die used to evaluate the influence of the channel angle: (a) 90°,
(b) 112.5°, (c) 135° and (d) 157.5°
Processing Route-:
• By changing the orientation of the specimen between successive presses, complex microstructures
and textures can be developed.
• Four fundamental ECAP routes are defined and utilized to obtain different textures and
microstructures:
• Route A-: The orientation of the sample is maintained the same for the each pass.
• Route BA-: The sample is rotated by 90⁰ in alternative direction.
• Route BC-: The sample is rotated by in the same sense by 90⁰.
• Route C-: The sample is rotated by 180⁰ around its axis after each pass.

• The differences between Routes A, B and C are the shearing direction and the shear plane
orientation.
• Route BC is an excellent processing route for producing equiaxed ultra-fine microstructures.
Processing Speed-:
• The ECAP technique is always conducted using high

capacity hydraulic presses that operate with relatively

high ram speeds.

Processing Temperature-:
• Pressing temperature in ECAP is a key factor in microstructure development.
• An increase in the deformation temperature resulted in an increase in grain size and a decrease in
the misorientation of strain-induced boundaries.
 Mechanical Properties After ECAP
• Ultra-fine grained materials produced by ECAP exhibit good hardness and high strength.
• As grain size is reduced through the nanoscale regime, hardness typically increases.
• The materials produced by ECAP also have high wear resistance and fatigue strength, and high
biocompatibility and corrosion resistance when in contact with living tissue.
• Figure shows that structural refinement after ECAP.
 Change in hardness (Vickers hardness value) The relationship between the hardness value
of a copper alloy with an increase in the and the inverse square root of the average
number of passes of equal channel angular grain size of a copper alloy at room
pressing. temperature.
 Superplastic Behaviour-:
• Ultra-fine grained materials exhibit superplastic behaviour.
• Superplasticity is the capability of some polycrystalline materials to exhibit very large tensile
deformations without necking or fracture.
• As grain size decreases, the temperature at which superplasticity occurs decreases, and the strain
rate for the occurrence of superplasticity increases.
• Graphical representation of the variation in yield stress as a function of grain size in ultra-fine
grained materials.
 Strain Imposed During ECAP
• ECAP-:The ECAP process does not generate
homogeneous strains all over the sample but rather
in a restricted volume.

Using φ=90⁰, Ψ= zero, the applied equivalent strain = 1.15.

• Rolling-:
equivalent strain of 1.15 is equivalent to % reduction
in thickness = 63%
 Strain Imposed During ECAP
• Shear Strain-:

• Equivalent Strain-:

Where,
 ECAP Operation Variables
• These variables are four: lubrication, pressing temperature, pressing parameters and deformation
routes or modes.
• Lubrication-: Synthetic grease based on MoS2 is universally adopted. Plenty of it must be used
and careful cleaning of the channel after each pass is recommended, particularly when deformation
is carried out at high temperature.
• Temperature-: The lowest possible to avoid dynamic recovery.
• Deformation routes-: After the first pass the billet can be rotated around its longitudinal axis
and then placed back in the channel. Such rotation can assume different modes, giving origin to
different deformation paths or routes.
• Die closing technique-: This is an important detail since burrs can easily be formed on the
sample while pressing in an incorrectly closed die. This occurrence causes a drastic increase of
pressing force.
 Advantages

• Multiple passes through ECAP is possible.

• It can be conducted at room temperature.
• It can process large bulk material possible.
• It has significantly enhanced properties like hardness, high tensile strength, and the possibility to
get super plasticity at low temperatures.
• Strength of the material increases with each pass.
• Uniform and unidirectional deformations can be produced.
• Grain refinement depends on the angle of dies, rotation of billet along with strain.
• Ability to control crystallographic and mechanical texture during multi-pass ECAP.
• Formation of complex microstructures: equiaxed, laminar and fibrous textures.
 Disadvantages
• The cross section diameter or diagonal of billet should not exceed 20mm.
• Decrease in electrical conductivity.
• Fracture after some passes.
• Low productivity.
• Defects in pressured sample.
• Time taking process.
 Applications

• ECAP can be used in the aerospace, power, automotive industries, and in medical application.
• These products include fasteners likes screws, screw rivets used in the aircraft and other structures,
elements for aircraft fuselages (stringers, skin plates, etc.).
• ECAP is also being used in the fabrication of long rods of nanostructured titanium materials for
medical applications.
• ECAP is also used in traumatology and orthopedics, in stomatology, in oral surgery and in
cardiovascular surgery.
• The ECAP technique is being used in the manufacture of many materials within the medical
equipment, automotive, microelectromechanical and shape memory alloy industries.
Medical applications of equal channel angular pressing include the manufacture of commercially pure
titanium instruments for osteosynthesis.

High-strength thread articles

manufactured from a titanium
alloy by ECAP.
 Conclusions
• A discipline of material forming technique is being born because its merging of manufacturing
process and material fabrication for reducing up to nanoscale size.
• A dominant SPD process is ECAP in term of deformation.
• ECAP refine grain structure without changing the billet dimension.
• It can reduce the grain size to submicron level range even to nanometres range depends on
numbers of parameter.
• The distribution of strain-stress becomes uniform and the low ductile materials can be extruded
without failure.
• Large equivalent strain is achieved in modified ECAP’s like 65⁰(2 turns, 3 turns,4 turns).
• The usefulness of FEM analysis developing practical ECAP process demonstration.
• The flow softening effect leads to displacement of the deformation zone, hence an enhanced
accumulation of damage at the upper surface.
• Continuous ECAP process is most likely to form practical application.
 References
• Kumar KS, Swygenhoven H, Suresh S. Mechanical behaviour of nanocrystalline metals and alloys.
Acta Mater. 2003;51:5743–5774. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2003.08.032
• Valiev RZ. Paradoxes of severe plastic deformation. Adv Eng Mater.2003;5(5):296–300.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adem.200310089
• A Review on Equal Channel Angular Extrusion as a Deformation and Grain Refinement Process
Samuel T. Adedokun.
• Nakashima K, Horita Z, Nemosto M and LangdonTG.
Development of a multi-pass facility for equal channel angular pressing to high total strains
Material Science and Engineering. 2000; 281:82-87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0921-
5093(99)00744-3
• Ma E. Eight routes to improve the tensile ductility of bulk nanostructured metals and alloys. J
Miner Metall Mater Soc. 2006;58:49–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11837-006-0215-5
• Sanusi KO, Makinde OD, Oliver GJ. Equal channel angular pressing technique for the formation
of ultrafine grained structures. SAfr J Sci. 2012;108(9/10), Art. #212, 7 pages.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajs. v108i9/10.212