Nano-Refinement, Nano-Consolidation: Different Fabrication Routes of Nano-Crystalline Aluminium Alloys

The aim of the present work was to compare microstructures and mechanical properties of nano-Al alloys fabricated by two different methods: (i) SPD induced grain refinement, (ii) plastic consolidation of nano-powders or nano-crystalline ribbons. SPD grain refinement has been implemented by hydrostatic extrusion, HE. The ribbons were rapidly solidified using a melt spinning methods. Plastic consolidation of powder and ribbons was conducted by warm extrusion. The results of the studies show that by applying various fabrication routes for a given chemical composition, diverse nano-structures can be obtained, which differ in terms of grain size and shape, grain boundary character and dislocation density. As a result, the alloys also differ significantly in the mechanical properties. The findings are discussed in terms of the possibilities for optimizing properties of the bulk-nano-metals.