Portholes-equal channel angular pressing: novel technique for extrusion of 6061 aluminum alloy tube by subsize billet

摘要

Wrought 6061 Al alloy exhibits the prospective applications in the form of tube extrusions. In this study, billets of 6061 Al alloy were extruded under optimized conditions by a novel technique namely portholes-equal channel angular pressing (P-ECAP) extrusion. This technique is different from the conventional extrusion as the dimension of the product is greater than that of the billet. The extruded tube produced by the method was characterized for their microstructure as well as for their physical and mechanical properties. The tube that was fabricated using P-ECAP die showed significant refinement in microstructure with improved mechanical properties outside the seam joint portion. However, the extrusion loads using porthole die were less compared to that in the conventional method by using columniform billet because of the decrease in billet dimension or extrusion ratio. Furthermore, microstructure at seam joints of 6061 Al alloy extrusion was discussed in detail in this study. Thus, the P-ECAP technique has significant potential for substantial energy saving.