Effect of Equal-Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) on Creep in Aluminium Alloys

This paper examines the effect of equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) on creep behaviour of pure aluminium, binary Al-0.2wt.%Sc alloy and ternary Al-3wt.%Mg-0.2wt.%Sc alloy. The ECAP was conducted at room temperature with a die that had a 90° angle between the channels and 8 repetitive ECAP passes followed route BC. Constant stress compression creep tests were performed at 473 K and stresses ranging between 16 to 80 MPa on ECAP materials and, for comparison purposes, on the initial coarse-grained materials. The results showed that the creep resistance of the ECAP processed Al-Sc and Al-Mg-Sc alloys was markedly deteriorated with respect to unpressed coarse-grained materials.