Materials Science Forum, Vol.357-3, 425-430, 2001
Development of ultrafine grained materials using the MAXStrain (R) technology
Ultrafine-grained structures, having grain size of 1 mum or less in diameter have shown high rate superplasticity at lower temperatures compared to the conventional superplastic forming conditions. Many techniques have been developed to produce the ultrafine-grained structures primarily by severe plastic deformation, which include equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), 3D forging, high pressure torsion (HPT), and accumulative roll bonding (ARB), etc. A multi-axis-restraint deformation technique (MAXStrain(R) Technology) was recently developed to obtain ultrafine-grained structures by performing extremely large strains with accurate control of strain, strain rate and temperature. The technology has demonstrated a potential to produce industrial-size ultrafine-grained bulk materials. In this paper, an application of the MAXStrain Technology for developing ultrafine grain structures of a commercial aluminum alloy is presented. The results show that the technology is a promising technique to produce ultrafine-grained structures of aluminum alloys for the high rate superplastic forming.