Severe plastic deformation and phase transformations

Large densities of crystalline defects are created in severely deformed metallic alloys, pushing systems far from the thermodynamic equilibrium. Thus, strain induced phase transformations may occur and affect the mechanical properties like in the well known white etching layer on the surface of rail tracks. Here we briefly report about different phenomena reported in the literature such as solid state amorphization, super saturated solid solutions, precipitate dissolution and disordering. Phase separation and precipitation in nanostructured metallic alloys by severe plastic deformation prior to aging are also discussed.