Grain size and grain boundary analysis of aluminum compacts with/without 10 wt.% of nickel powder processed by equal channel angular pressing

Abstract

The aim of this study is to consolidate the Al-Ni powders using the equal channel angular pressing method in order to achieve improved structural and mechanical properties. Thus, both alloying ability at low temperature, as a result of consolidations of ultrafine grained alloy by equal channel angular pressing method, and the average grain size and grain boundary angle have been studied and the effect of Nickel has been investigated. Severe plastic deformation and consolidation process with 15 passes of equal channel angular pressing, having route C, have been carried out at 200°C using pure aluminum and aluminum with 10 wt.% of nickel. Electron backscatter diffraction was used to obtain scanning electron microscopy images and to determine the average grain size and average grain boundary angle. Density measurements of samples have been carried out using the Archimedes principle and the microhardness distributions have been obtained using the HV 0.5 method. © 2018 Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Physics. All rights reserved.