Scripta Materialia, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp.

143-146,1996
Elsevier S&me Ltd
Copyright 8 1996 Acta Metallurgica Inc.
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved
1359-6462/96 $12.00 + .OO
PI1 S1359-6462(96)00107-8

PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL-CHANNEL ANGULAR

PEESSING FOR THE PROCESSING OF ULTRA-FINE
GRAINED MATERIALS
Yoshinori Iwahashi, Jingtao Wang,2 Zenji Horita, Minoru Nemoto
and Terence G. Langdon
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty of Engineering 36
Kyushu University, Fukuoka 8 12, Japan
Department of Metallurgy
Xian University of Architecture and Technology
Xian 710055, P.R. China
Departments of Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1453, USA
(Received October 13, 1995)

Introduction

Considerable interest has centered recently on the processing of materials with ultra-fine grain sizes,
typically cl00 nm. These materials may be prepared by various techniques including gas condensation
and subsequent in situ consolidation under high vacuum [l-4], high energy ball milling [5,6] and sliding
wear [7]. Alternatively, it has been shown that submicrometer-grained structures may be produced in a
wide range of materials (e.g. pure metals, metallic alloys including superalloys, intermetallics,
semiconductors) by subjecting these materials to a very high plastic strain [S-14] using either equal-
channel angular (ECA) pressing [ 151or torsion straining under high pressure [S]. These latter procedures
usually give grain sizes in the submicrometer range of -100-200 nm although there are reports of grain
sizes as small as -50 nm [ 161. In practice, ECA pressing is an especially attractive processing method
because it provides the capability of producing large bulk samples which are free from any residual
porosity.
The concept of ECA pressing may be traced to the early work of Segal and co-workers [ 171 which
described the technique of pressing test samples through a die containing two channels, equal in cross-
section, intersecting at an angle of a. As a result of the pressing, the sample underwent simple shear but
it retained the same cross-sectional area so that it was possible to repeat the pressings for several cycles.
Recently, the method of ECA pressing has attracted much attention because experiments show that it is
possible to intmduce significant changes to the fundamental properties of the selected material, including
properties which are generally considered to be structure-insensitive such as the moduli of elasticity [ 181
and the Debye I[191 and Curie [20] temperatures.

143
 I44 PRINCIPLEOF EQUAL-CHANNELANGULAR Vol. 35, No. 2

Despite the recent attention given to the principles [2 1,221 and applications [23,24] of ECA pressing,
there remains the problem of estimating the magnitude of the strain introduced into the samples using this
technique. A detailed consideration of various relationships which were presented earlier to estimate this
strain (for example, in [12]) suggests that incorrect assumptions were incorporated into the analytical
treatments. Therefore, the present paper is designed to alleviate this deficiency.

The principle of ECA pressing is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1, where two channels of equal cross-
section intersect at an oblique angle cp.Pressing may be conducted using a square configuration as in Fig.

d-
i _

I
1.

/
W

Figure 1. Principle of equal-channel angular pressing where o is the angle of intersection of the two channels and V is the angle
subtended by the arc of curvature at the point of intersection: (a) P = 0, (b) V = II - @, (c) T lies between P = 0 and T = I - IX
Vol. 35, No. 2 PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL-CHANNEL ANGULAR 145

l(a) or with curvature at the outer point of contact between the two channels as in Figs l(b) and (c).
Defining Y as the angle subtended by the arc of curvature, Figs l(a) and (b) correspond to the limiting
conditions of YP = 0 and P = 7~- a, respectively, and Fig. l(c) corresponds to an intermediate situation
where f lies at an arbitrary angle between P = 0 and P = x - cg.
These three situations were considered in the earlier analysis of Segal et al. [ 171 but their calculations
assumed a square-cut die, as in Fig. l(a), and they associated the angle P with the magnitude of friction
on the channel wall. In practice, problems with friction at the die walls may be avoided by the use of
appropriate lubricants. Therefore, the present analysis assumes that the dies are fabricated as illustrated
in Figs l(a) - (c) and the specimen is lubricated so that frictional effects may be neglected.
In Fig. l(a) where Y! = 0, a small element in the sample, initially square in cross-section with
dimensions given by abed, becomes deformed by shear on passage through the die into the configuration
given by abcd. Using the notation in Fig. l(a), it follows that the shear strain, y, is given by aq/qd,
where qd = ad and ab = dc = alp = pq = adcot(W2) so that aq = 2adcot(W2). Therefore, for the
condition where Y = 0,

y= 2cot
(z.12
(1)

In Fig. l(b) where Y = R - CP,the shear strain is given by y = rclrb, where rb = da = (oa - od) and
ab = dc = oa! = (rc + a&) so that rc = (oa - od)Y. Therefore, for this condition,

y= J (2)

Finally, in Fig. l(c) where Y represents an intermediate situation, the shear strain is y = auldu where
du = ad and au may be obtained from the relationships au = (a? + tu) = (rc + as), as = adcot(W2 +
y/2), ab = dc = (as + osf) = rc + odp and (OS- od) = adcosec(C42 + Y/2), so that au = 2adcot(O/2 +
y/2) + adYcosac(O/2 + f/2). Therefore, the shear strain for this intermediate condition is given by

y = 2,(+ + +) +rcosec(+
+f) (3)

Inspection shows that equation (3) reduces to equation (1) when P = 0 and to equation (2) when Y =
x - a.

The equivalent strain, Ed, is represented by

I/2

e ;-2[e:+e;+e;+ I
yv2+y;l+y=2 (4)
-4
3

so that the strain, E, after 1 cycle is

e = (5)

Since the same strain is accumulated in each passage through the die, the strain after N cycles, Ed, is
therefore given by
146 PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL-CHANNEL ANGULAR Vol. 35, No. 2

*,,(; +f) +.cosec(;+

g-
eN=

Nj 6
Thus, the strain may be estimated from equation (6) for any pressing conditions provided the angles
o and f are known.

Equal-channel angular pressing is a simple and attractive procedure for the fabrication of materials with
ultra-fine grain sizes. A relationship is derived which may be used to calculate the imposed strain after any
number of selected pressing cycles.

AcknowledPements

This work was supported in part by the Light Metal Educational Foundation of Japan and in part by the
National Science Foundation of the United States under Grants No. JNT-9404693 and DMR-9 115443.

References

1. H. Gleiter, in Deformation of Polycrystals: Mechanisms and Microstructures (N. Hansen, A. Horsewell, T. Leffers and H.
Lilholt, eds), p. 15. RiserNational Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark (1981).
2. R. Birringer, H. Gleiter, H.P. Klein and P. Marquardt, Phys. Lett. A 102,365 (1984).
3. R. Birringer, U. Herr and H. Gleiter, Trans. Japan Inst. Metals (Suppl.) 27,43 (1986).
4. H.E. Schaefer, R. Wthschurr, R. Birringer and H. Gleiter, J. Less-Common Metals 140, 161 (1988).
5. E. Hellstem, H.J. Fecht, Z. Fu and W.L. Johnson, J. Appl. Phys. 65,305 (1989).
6. C.C. Koch and Y.S. Cho, Nanostruct. Mater. 1,207 (1992).
7. D.A. Rigney, Ann. Rev. Mater. Sci. 18, 141 (1988).
8. N.A. Smimova, V.I. Levif V.I. Pilyugin, R.I. Kuznetsov, L.S. Davydova and V.A. Sazonova, Fiz. Met. Metalloved. 61, 1170
(1986).
9. R.B. Musalimov and R.Z. Valiev, Scripta MetaIl. Mater. 27, 1685 (1992).
10. R.Z. Valiev, A.V. Korznikov and R.R. Mulyukov, Mater. Sci. Eng. A168, 141 (1993).
11. J. Languillaume, F. Chmelik, G. Kapelski, F. Bordeaux, A.A. Nazarov, G. Canova, C. Esling, R.Z. Valiev and B. Baudelet,
Acta Metall. Mater. 41,2953 (1993).
12. J. Wang, Z. Horita, M. Furukawa, M. Nemoto, N.K. Tsenev, R.Z. Valiev, Y. Ma and T.G. Langdon, I. Mater. Res. 8,281O
(1993).
13. J. Wang, Z. Horita, M. Nemoto, M. Furukawa, R.Z. Vahev, Y. Ma and T.G. Langdon, Mater. Res. Sot. Symp. Proc. 3 19,
293 (1994).
14. Y. Ma, Z. Horita, M. Furukawa, M. Nemoto, R.Z. Valiev and T.G. Langdon, Mater. Lett. 23,283 (1995).
15. N.A. Akhmadeev, V.I. Kopylov, R.R. Mulyukov and R.Z. Vaiiev, Izvest. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Metally 5,96 (1992).
16. R.Z. Valiev and RSh. Musahmov, Phys. Metals Metallogr. 78,666 (1994).
17. V.M. Segal, V.I. Rexnikov, A.E. Drobyshevskiy and V.I. KopyIov, Metally, 1, 115 (1981) [English translation: Russian
Metallurgy 1,99 (1981)].
18. N.A. Akhmadeev, N.P. Kobelev, R.R. Mulyukov, Ya.M. Soifer and R.Z. Valiev, ActaMetall. Mater. 41, 1041 (1993).
19. R.Z. Valiev, R.R. Mulyukov, V.V. Ovchinnikov and V.A. Shabashov, Scripta Metall. Mater. 25,841 (1991).
20. Kh.Ya. Mulyukov, S.B. Khaphizov and R.Z. Vaiiev, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 133,447 (1992).
21. V.M. Segal, in Fit International Conference on Processing Materials for Properties (II. Henein and T. Oki, eds), p. 947.
The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, Warrendale, PA (1993).
22. V.M. Segal, Mater. Sci. Eng. A197, 157 (1995).
23. V.M. Segal, R.E. Gofortb and K.T. Hartwig, in First International Conference on Processing Materials for Properties (H.
Henein and T. Oki, eds), p. 971. The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, Warrendale, PA (1993).
24. S.L. Semiatin, V.M. Segal, R.L. Goetz, R.E. Goforth and T. Hartwig, Scripta Metall. Mater. 33, 535 (1995).