Consolidation of Al particles through forward extrusion-equal channel angular pressing (FE-ECAP)

In the present study, aluminum particles are consolidated successfully by forward extrusion-equal channel angular pressing, referred as FE-ECAP process, at 200 °C. In this method, two processes of forward extrusion (FE) and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) occur subsequently in a single die. For comparison, the powders are also consolidated by conventional extrusion process, at the same conditions as FE-ECAP process. The consolidated material shows a fine grain structure with excellent mechanical properties relative to those obtained by conventional extrusion process. Advantages of this method can be expressed as: the possibility of performing two processes in a single die and producing long bar samples with full density from particles.