Incremental Equal Channel Angular Pressing of Sheets

Severe plastic deformation is one of the most promising methods of refining grain structure in metallic materials. However, practical applications of this technology are rare because of the lack of industrially acceptable continuous severe plastic deformation processes, especially those suitable for plates and sheets. To address this problem a newly invented method of incremental equal channel angular pressing was used to process 2x50x190 aluminium alloy sheet strips. The paper describes the method, tool and press configuration, process parameters and the results of experimental trials, which prove the feasibility of incremental equal channel angular pressing for processing sheets.