Severe Plastic Deformation by Equal Channel Angular Swaging

Equal Channel Angular Swaging (ECAS) is a new severe plastic deformation process which combines the conventional equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and the incremental bulk forming process rotary swaging. The tool system consists of two rotary swaging dies with an angled channel that contains four shear zones, generating severe plastic strain per pass. The crucial advantages compared to conventional ECAP are a significant reduction of friction and axial forces plus the potential to be extended to continuous processing. Thus, ECAS has high potential for a cost-efficient production of bulk UFG materials. In the present paper the principles of ECAS are introduced and first experimental results for the processing of copper are presented.