Simulation of deformation behaviour of Aluminium 7075 during Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP)

¹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Masinde Muliro University of Science & Technology, Kenya
² Department of Mining, Materials and Petroleum Engineering, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, Nairobi, Kenya
³ School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

^* Corresponding author: fredrick.mwema@dkut.ac.ke

Abstract

This paper presents a finite element simulation of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) since it is one of the most common and successful severe plastic deformation techniques. This study reports the influence of the most significant factors influencing the ECAP technique. Through finite element simulation, the effect of the die geometry, workpiece geometry, and the pressing speed on the effective strain distributions, damage, and pressing loads, were investigated. The influence of the ECAP method on different material models is also presented. Additionally, the prospective expansion and future applications of ECAP are herein highlighted. From the results, the die geometry of a 90° channel imparts the highest strains during ECAP. Additionally, specimens of rectangular geometry are susceptible to cracking and damage as compared to circular samples. It was found that very high processing speeds (>7mm/sec) are undesirable during ECAP since they cause very high internal stresses to the structure of the workpieces. Besides, processing at room temperature can achieve homogeneous strain distribution with minimum sample damage.