Austenitic stainless steels are commonly used in nuclear reactors and have been considered as potential structural materials in fusion reactors due to their excellent corrosion resistance, good creep and fatigue resistance at elevated temperatures, but their relatively low yield strength and poor radiation tolerance hinder their applications in high dose radiation environments. High angle grain boundaries have long been postulated as sinks for radiation-induced defects, such as bubbles, voids, and dislocation loops. Here we provide experimental evidence that high angle grain boundaries can effectively remove radiation-induced defects. The equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) technique was used to produce ultrafine grained Fe-Cr-Ni alloy. Mechanical properties of the alloy were studied at elevated temperature by tensile tests and in situ neutron scattering measurements. Enhanced dynamic recovery process at elevated temperature due to dislocation climb lowers the strain hardening rate and ductility of ultrafine grained Fe-Cr-Ni alloy. Thermal stability of the ultrafine grained Fe-Cr-Ni alloy was examined by ex situ annealing and in situ heating within a transmission electron microscope. Abnormal grain growth at 827 K (600°C) is attributed to deformation-induced martensite, located at the triple junctions of grains. Helium ion irradiation studies on Fe-Cr-Ni alloy show that the density of He bubbles, dislocation loops, as well as irradiation hardening are reduced by grain refinement. In addition, we provide direct evidence, via in situ Kr ion irradiation within a transmission electron microscope, that high angle grain boundaries in nanocrystalline Ni can effectively absorb irradiation-induced dislocation loops and segments. The density and size of dislocation loops in irradiated nanocrystalline Ni were merely half of those in irradiated coarse grained Ni. The results imply that irradiation tolerance in bulk metals can be effectively enhanced by microstructure refinement.

TiNiPd high-temperature shape memory alloys (HTSMAs) have attracted considerable attention as potential solid-state actuators capable of operating at temperatures up to 500 °C, exhibiting excellent corrosion resistance, adequate ductility levels and significant strain recovery under both constrained and unconstrained thermomechanical conditions. During operation, these actuators may be subjected to multiple cycles and from an application point of view, the functional stability, i.e. conservation of original actuator dimensions and transformation temperatures during repeated employment, is of considerable importance. This study addresses the issue of functional stability in a model HTSMA, Ti50.5Ni24.5Pd25, for its use as a compact solid-state actuator. Since the primary reason for functional instability is the creation of lattice defects (dislocations, vacancies, etc.) during repeated transformation cycles, several methods were successfully undertaken to improve the functional stability through inhibiting the generation of these defects. Solid-solution strengthening through Sc microalloying and thermomechanical treatments via severe plastic deformation were the two approaches used to strengthen the HTSMA against defect generation. Thermal cycling the HTSMA under stress was the third method to voluntarily introduce defects into the microstructure such that further defect generation during application would be impeded. Overall, severe plastic deformation was found to be more efficient than other strengthening methods in improving the functional stability of TiNiPd HTSMA, yet it brought about disadvantages such as reduction in transformation strain and transformation temperatures. While functional instability is due to the creation of lattice defects, the generation of these defects is mainly controlled by the crystallographic incompatibility between martensitically transforming phases and the strength levels for plastic deformation. It was shown that TiNiPd HTSMAs, which exhibited martensitic transformation from a cubic (B2) to orthorhombic (B19) symmetry, illustrated better compatibility and thus better functional stability levels compared to TiNi SMAs, which had a B2 to monoclinic (B19’) transition. Although crystallographic incompatibility seems to be the governing factor for the functional stability of the TiNiPd HTSMA, the strength differential between the onset of plastic deformation and local constraint due to the martensitic transformation was also found to be an influential factor determining the overall stable behavior. Functional stability was also investigated for the two-way shape memory effect (TWSME) in TiNiPd HTSMAs. Better strength and compatibility levels compared to TiNi SMAs were also reflected in the TWSME characteristics in the form of enhanced stability under stress-free thermal cycling. The stability during constrained thermal cycling was not as good and TWSME degraded rapidly while doing work against an opposing stress. Nevertheless, work output levels were much higher as compared to those obtained from conventional TiNi and Cu-based SMAs.

M. Tech. (Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology): Vaal University of Technology / Presently there exist a lot of controversies about the mechanical properties of nanomaterials. Several convincing reasons and justifications have been put forward for the controversies. Some of the reasons are varying processing routes, varying ways of defining equations, varying grain sizes, varying internal constituent structures, varying techniques of imposing strain on the specimen etc. It is therefore necessary for scientists, engineers and technologists to come up with a clearer way of defining and dealing with nanomaterials’ mechanical properties. The parameters of the internal constituent structures of nanomaterials are random in nature with random spatial patterns. So they can best be studied using random processes, specifically as stochastic processes. In this dissertation the tools of stochastic processes have been used as they offer a better approach to understand and analyse random processes. This research adopts the approach of ascertaining the correct mathematical models to be used for experimentation and modelling. After a thorough literature survey it was observed that size and temperature are two important parameters that must be considered in selecting the relevant mathematical definitions for nanomaterials’ mechanical properties. Temperature has a vital role to play during grain refinement since all severe plastic deformation involves thermomechanical processes. The second task performed in this research is to develop the mathematical formulations based on the experimental observation of 2-D grains and 3-D grains deformed by Accumulative Roll-Bonding and Equal Channel Angular Pressing. The experimental observations revealed that grains deformed by Accumulative Roll-Bonding and Equal Channel Angular Pressing are elongated when observed from the rolling direction, and transverse direction, and equiaxed when observed from the normal direction. In this dissertation, the different experimental observations for the grain size variants during grain refinement were established for 2-D and 3-D grains. This led to the development of a stochastic model of grain-elongation for 2-D and 3-D grains. The third task was experimentations and validation of proposed models. Accumulative Roll-Bonding, Equal Channel Angular Pressing and mechanical testing (tensile test) experiments were performed. The effect of size on elongation and material properties were studied to validate the developed models since size has a major effect on material’s properties. The fourth task was obtaining results and discussion of theoretical developed models and experimental results. The following facts were experimentally observed and also revealed by the models. Different approaches of measuring grain size reveal different strains that cannot be directly obtained from plots of the corresponding grain sizes. Grain elongation evolved as small values for larger grains, but became larger for smaller grains. Material properties increased with elongation reaching a maximum and started decreasing as is evident in the Hall-Petch to the Reverse Hall-Petch Relationship. This was alluded to the fact that extreme plastic straining led to distorted structures where grain boundaries and curvatures were in “non-equilibrium” states. Overall, this dissertation contributed new knowledge to the body of knowledge of nanomaterials’ mechanical properties in a number of ways. The major contributions to the body of knowledge by his study can be summarized as follows: (1) The study has contributed in developing a model of elongation for 2-D grain and 3-D grains. It has been generally reported by researchers that materials deformed by Accumulative Roll-Bonding and Equal Channel Angular Pressing are generally elongated but none of these researchers have developed a model of elongation. Elongation revealed more information about “size” during grain refinement. (2) The Transmission Electron Microscopy revealed the grain shape in three directions. The rolling direction or sliding direction, the normal direction and the transverse direction. Most developed models ignored the different approaches of measuring nanomaterials’ mechanical properties. Most existing models dealt only with the equivalent radius measurement during grain refinement. In this dissertation, the different approaches of measuring nanomaterials’ mechanical properties have been considered in the developed models. From this dissertation an accurate correlation can be made from microscopy results and theoretical results. (3) This research has shown that most of the published results on nanomaterials’ mechanical properties may be correct although controversies exist when comparing the different results. This research has also shown that researchers might have considered different approaches to measure nanomaterials’ mechanical properties. The reason for different results is due to different approaches of measuring nanomaterials’ mechanical properties as revealed in this research. Since different approaches of measuring nanomaterials’ mechanical properties led to different obtained results, this justify that most published results of nanomaterials’ mechanical properties may be correct. This dissertation revealed more properties of nanomaterials that are ignored by the models that considered only the equivalent length. (4) This research has contributed to the understanding of nanomaterials controversies when comparing results from different researchers.

In this work, ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al-5wt%Zn alloy was produced by equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE). The microstructure evolution during ECAE and the mechanical properties of the UFG Al-Zn alloy were investigated. In order to identify the effect of Zn in the Al-Zn alloy, pure aluminum (4N, 99.99%) was also studied for comparison. The grains of the Al-Zn alloy could be refined effectively by increasing the ECAE passes. However, as the ECAE passes increased, the microhardness increased initially but maintained constant after 4 ECAE passes. The dislocation density within grain interior was decreased gradually with increasing ECAE passes. After being processed to twelve ECAE passes, the UFG Al-Zn alloy exhibited 53.7% of the grain boundaries being high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs). The UFG Al-5wt%Zn alloy exhibits superior tensile strength and elongation as compared with pure aluminum fabricated by the same ECAE process. Experimental results indicated that adding Zn in aluminum alloy could provide solid-solution strengthening and considerable enhancement in tensile ductility which might be related to an improved post-uniform elongation (PUE). The strain rate sensitivity (SRS) of the UFG Al-Zn alloy also increased with increasing the ECAE passes, which might be related to the fine grain size and the contribution of grain boundary sliding. The activation volume of the UFG Al-Zn alloy was in the range of 32b3~76b3, and the pure aluminum was in the range of 57b3~122b3. Because of the small value of the activation volume, it is suggested that the controlling mechanism for dislocation glide in the UFG Al-Zn alloy might be related to the generation and absorption of dislocations in grain boundary, as well as the interaction between dislocations and solute Zn atoms in the grain boundary.

A combinatorial study was carried out for hydrogen storage alloys which involve processes similar to those normally used in their fabrication. The study utilized a single sample of combined elemental (or compound) powders which were milled and consolidated into a bulk form and subsequently deformed to heavy strains. Material library was obtained in a post annealing treatment carried out at elevated temperatures which brings about solid state reactions between the powders yielding equilibrium phases in the respective alloy system. A sample comprising the material library was then pulverized and screened for hydrogen storage composition. X-ray diffraction was used as a screening tool, the sample having been examined both in as-processed and hydrogenated state. The method was successfully applied to Mg-Ni, and Mg-Ni-Ti yielding the well known Mg2Ni as the storage composition. It is concluded that partitioning of the alloy system into regions of similar solidus temperature would be required to enrich the material library.

Severe plastic deformation methods are of great interest in industrial forming applications, as they give rise to significant refinement in microstructures and improvements in mechanical and physical properties. In the &ldquo / Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE)&rdquo / , which is the most common method for production of ultrafine grained bulk samples, very high plastic strains are introduced into the bulk material without any change in cross section. This study is composed of two main parts. Part I focuses on the plastic deformation behavior of Al alloys by modeling ECAE with Msc. Marc finite element software. A series of numerical experiments were carried out for the die angles of 90&deg / , 120&deg / , and 150&deg / , different friction conditions, and different round corners. Besides, the effects of strain hardening characteristics of the material, strain hardening coefficient (K) and exponent (n) of Hollomon&rsquo / s law, on corner gap formation and strain homogeneity in equal channel angular pressing process were investigated quantitatively. The results were compared and verified with those of the upper bound analysis. The numerical results showed that the process performance can be improved by modifying the die corner curvature accordingly, without running time consuming simulations. On the other hand, the aim of Part 3 is to investigate the texture evolution, mechanical response and the corresponding mechanisms, in terms of the flow stress anisotropy and tension-compression asymmetry in the ZK60 Mg alloy. The alloy was processed using ECAE, with different processing routes and temperatures, in order to produce samples with a wider variety of microstructures and crystallographic textures. Several mechanical tests and microstructure examinations were carried out / and the flow stress anisotropy and tension-compression asymmetry of the as-received and processed samples were measured. It was found that the initial texture has a strong effect on the resulting textures / and the textures, combined with the microstructure effect, define the mechanical properties of processed samples. Thus, the tension-compression asymmetry and the flow stress anisotropy variations in the processed samples are attributed to the generated textures and it is possible to control these properties by controlling the processing route and temperature.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:19:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VEGA_Marcelo_2014.pdf: 9141409 bytes, checksum: fd60293925ed2e6a9d8df71ece7c06f5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-18 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / It is known that the formability of aluminum alloy AA1050 is not favored when sheets are produced by conventional rolling due to the appearance of intense cube texture {100} <100> after recrystallization heat treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate whether components of shear processes can improve this property. For this work two processes of plastic deformation introducing shear stresses were selected: Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) and asymmetric rolling; these processes were compared to conventional rolling. In conventional rolling deformation results mainly compressive stresses. In the ECAE process shear is induced in the intersection of two channels of the same geometry that intersect by an angle &#61542; In the asymmetric rolling the shear stress is basically increased due to the speed variation between the rolls. An AA1050 aluminum sheet produced by the twin roll casting process was used in this study. The deformations were performed basically in 4 paths: i) conventional rolling, 70% reduction, ii) ECAE 1-8 passes, iii) ECAE 1-4 passes followed by conventional rolling with reduction of 70% and iv) Asymetric Rolling with reductions 30-50%. The mechanical and microstructural characterization of the deformed state was performed and the formability after annealing heat treatment was studied. ECAE deformation reduced the grain size, which measured by EBSD and transmission electron microscopy yield 1 micrometer. The evolution of equivalent strain compared with the increase of the hardness indicated a grain size stabilization of the grain/cell after four ECAE extrusion passes. After 8 passes the fraction of high angle boundaries exceeded the low-angle boundaries, ie dynamic recrystallization occurred during deformation. The texture after one pass ECAE approached the ideal texture for a 120 ° ECAE die. For deformations with 4 - 8 ECAE passes, the texture evolved into scattering the orientations having the {111} plane parallel to the surface (&#61543; fiber), and into the formation of rotated cube {100} <110> and rotated Goss {110} <110> orientations. The conventional rolling after ECAE returned the orientations to typical rolling textures: brass, copper and Goss. Deformation by asymmetric rolling with a difference of tangential velocity of 1.2 imposed shear stress, but it was necessary to decrease the reduction rate from 10% to 5% per pass in order to appreciably modify the texture. Comparing the formability of the deformed material, it was observed that ECAE increased the penetration depth in the Erichsen test, while rolling decreased the Erichsen index. Asymmetric rolling reduced the intensity of texture and destroyed the symmetry of the crystallographic orientations. The asymmetric rolled sample presented better formability than the rolled samples. After annealing, the samples of conventional rolling, with or without ECAE pre - strain, showed typical textures of annealed laminated material with high cube texture type. The &#61543; fiber was not stable in the ECAE annealed samples. Although the overall texture intensity remained low, increasing ECAE deformation before heat treatment strengthened the Goss {110} <001> orientation. For the asymmetric rolling the fiber orientations <100>// ND was scattered and both rotated cube and cube orientations were present. The lowest index of planar anisotropy was obtained in the sample annealed after four ECAE passes, representing a lower tendency to fail, This sample also presented an index of penetration in Erichsen testing of the same order of conventionally rolled sheets. It has been shown that both ECA as the asymmetric rolling deformation can significantly modify the texture of deformation and annealing, and improve the characteristics of formability of aluminum alloy 1050. This processing step should be located at the end of mechanical forming process before final annealing. / Sabe-se que a estampabilidade em ligas de alumínio AA1050 não é favorecida quando as chapas são produzidas por laminação convencional devido ao surgimento de uma textura do tipo cubo {100}<100> de forte intensidade após tratamentos térmicos de recristalização. O objetivo do trabalho foi investigar se processos com componentes de cisalhamento podem melhorar esta propriedade. Para este trabalho foram selecionados dois processos de deformação plástica que introduzem tensões de cisalhamento: Extrusão em canal angular (ECA) e Laminação assimétrica (LA); esses processos foram comparados à laminação convencional. Na laminação convencional a deformação resulta principalmente de esforços de compressão. No processo ECA o cisalhamento é imposto na intersecção de dois canais de mesma geometria que se interceptam formado um ângulo &#61542;. Na laminação assimétrica o esforço de cisalhamento é introduzido devido à variação de velocidade entre os cilindros de laminação. Partiu-se de chapas de alumínio AA1050 produzidas pelo processo Caster. As deformações foram executadas basicamente em 4 esquemas: i) Laminação convencional com 70% de redução; ii) ECA rota A de 1 a 8 passes; iii) ECA rota A de 1 a 4 passes seguido por laminação convencional com redução de 70% e iv) LA com reduções variando de 30 a 50%. Foi realizada a caracterização mecânica e microestrutural do estado deformado e foi estudada a conformabilidade após tratamento térmico de recozimento. Na deformação por ECA foi observado a redução do tamanho de grão, que medido por EBSD e por microscopia eletrônica de transmissão foi de cerca de 1 &#956;m. A evolução da deformação equivalente comparada com o aumento da dureza indicou uma estabilização do tamanho de grão/célula a partir de 4 passes. Após 8 passes a fração de contornos de alto ângulo ultrapassou a de contornos de baixo ângulo, ou seja, ocorreu recristalização dinâmica durante a deformação. A textura após um passe de ECA se aproximou da textura ideal para matriz ECA de 120°. Mas para deformações com quatro e oito passes, a textura evoluiu para uma dispersão das orientações contendo os {111} paralelos à superfície da chapa (fibra &#61543;), o aparecimento de orientações do tipo cubo rodado (100)<011> e de Goss rodado {110} <110>. A laminação convencional após ECA provocou o retorno às orientações típicas de laminação: latão, cobre e Goss. A deformação por laminação assimétrica com uma diferença de velocidade tangencial de 1,2 impôs esforços de cisalhamento, porém foi necessário diminuir a redução por passes de 10% para 5% para que o cisalhamento adicional modificasse sensivelmente a textura. Comparando a estampabilidade dos materiais deformados, observou-se que a deformação ECA aumentou a profundidade da penetração no ensaio Erichsen, enquanto que a laminação diminuiu o índice Erichsen. A laminação assimétrica reduziu a intensidade de textura e destruiu a simetria das orientações cristalográficas. Esta amostra encruada apresentou estampabilidade superior à das amostras laminadas. Após o recozimento, as amostras de laminação convencional, com ou sem pré-deformação ECA apresentaram texturas típicas de material laminado recozido com alto índice de textura tipo cubo. Nas amostras ECA a fibra &#61543; não ficou estável e teve sua intensidade reduzida. Embora a intensidade de textura total tenha permanecido baixa, o aumento de deformação ECA antes do tratamento térmico reforçou a orientação Goss {110}<001>. Já a amostra de laminação assimétrica houve dispersão das orientações na fibra <100>//ND e tanto orientações cubo como cubo rodado estavam presentes. O menor índice de anisotropia planar foi obtido na amostra de 4 passes ECA recozida (representando uma menor tendência ao orelhamento) e um índice de penetração no ensaio Erichsen da mesma ordem de chapas laminadas convencionalmente. Demostrou-se que tanto a deformação ECA quanto a laminação assimétrica podem modificar significantemente a textura de deformação e de recozimento e melhorar as características de conformabilidade da liga de alumínio 1050. Esta etapa de processamento deve estar localizada no final do processo de conformação mecânica, antes do recozimento final.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work investigated the effect of different types of homogenization on the microstructure and the cold deformation behavior of Ti-35Nb-0,15Si alloy. Homogenization was performed under two conditions. Condition 1: treatment in ambient air at 1000 °C for 8, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours. Condition 2: treatment in argon atmosphere at 1000 °C for 8 hours. For the cold deformation study samples of the Ti-35Nb-0,15Si alloy and samples of Ti CP were deformed by ECAP with up to 8 passes, using the routes A and BC in a matrix with angle of intersection between the channels of Φ = 120º. The microstructural characterization was performed in the internal and external regions with the aid of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractograms. Vickers microhardness measurements were performed to evaluate the changes caused by deformation. In the ambient air atmosphere the samples showed the presence of the oxide layer influencing the hardness and the level of cold deformation. With the deformation of Ti-35Nb-0,15Si by ECAP it was possible to refine the structure and increase the hardness with increasing the number of passes. XRD analysis showed the presence of the α” phase induced by deformation. With the Ti CP deformed by ECAP, it was possible to analyze the microstructural evolution throughout the sample. / Este trabalho investigou o efeito de diferentes tipos de homogeneização sobre a microestrutura e o comportamento em deformação a frio da liga Ti-35Nb-0,15Si. A homogeneização foi realizada em duas condições. Condição 1: tratamento em atmosfera de ar ambiente na temperatura 1000 °C por 8, 24, 48, 72, 96 e 120 horas. Condição 2: tratamento em atmosfera inerte de argônio de 1000 °C por 8 horas. Para o estudo de deformação a frio, amostras da liga Ti-35Nb-0,15Si e amostras de Ti CP foram deformadas via ECAP com até 8 passes, utilizando as rotas A e BC numa matriz com ângulo de intersecção entre os canais de Φ = 120º. A caracterização microestrutural foi realizada nas regiões internas e externas com o auxílio de microscopia óptica, microscopia eletrônica de varredura e difratogramas de raios-X. Medidas de microdureza Vickers foram realizadas para avaliar as mudanças ocasionadas pela deformação. Em atmosfera de ar ambiente as amostras apresentaram a presença da camada de óxido influenciando na dureza e no nível de deformação a frio. Com a deformação de Ti-35Nb-0,15Si por ECAP foi possível refinar a estrutura e aumentar a dureza com o aumento do número de passes. A análise de DRX mostrou a presença da fase α’’ induzida por deformação. Com o Ti CP deformado por ECAP foi possível analisar a evolução microestrutural ao longo da amostra. / São Cristóvão, SE

Ultrafeinkörnige metallische Werkstoffe haben verstärkt wissenschaftliche Bedeutung erlangt. Um dieser neuartigen Werkstoffklasse über die grundlagenorientierte Forschung hinaus einen Einsatz in technischen Anwendungen zu ermöglichen, ist es notwendig, deren Verhalten unter verschiedenen einsatzrelevanten Belastungsbedingungen vorhersagen zu können. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Schädigungsverhalten einer ultrafeinkörnigen Aluminiumlegierung in den Bereichen der hochzyklischen (HCF) und niedrigzyklischen (LCF) Ermüdung sowie des Rissfortschritts untersucht. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Identifikation der mikrostrukturell wirksamen Mechanismen bei der Entstehung und Ausbreitung von Ermüdungsrissen. Es werden ein homogen ultrafeinkörniger und ein bimodaler Zustand sowie verschiedene duktilitätsoptimierte Zustände betrachtet und systematisch der Einfluss der Korngröße, der Korngrößenverteilung, der Ausscheidungscharakteristik sowie der Festigkeit und Duktilität auf das Ermüdungs- und Rissfortschrittsverhalten ermittelt. Die Untersuchungen zeigen, dass das Schädigungsverhalten der ultrafeinkörnigen Aluminiumlegierung insbesondere durch die Korngröße und Korngrößenverteilung sowie den Kohärenzgrad der festigkeitssteigernden Ausscheidungen beeinflusst wird.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:36:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Claudia Lopes Guerra.pdf: 9968717 bytes, checksum: 7d0e4986884ffa382a835b641ed76573 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-12 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The ECAP (Equal Channel Angular Pressing) is a mechanical process of Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD) where a sample is subjected to a shearing force when passing through the region of intersection of two channels. The main goal of this method is Severe Plastic Deformation achieve a microstructure with ultrafine grains, which have much higher than the equivalent coarse grain materials physical properties, such as an increase in strength and toughness simultaneously. What makes this increasingly interesting technique is that as there is no reduction cross section is possible to obtain plastic strain accumulation and therefore gain in grain order of nanometer scale. The great advantage of ECAP is to achieve a much higher degree of strain hardening than obtained by conventional methods of plastic deformation, and consequently a grain refining much higher as well. The importance of the study of severe plastic deformation process is on improving the mechanical performance of the materials and the possibility of a better understanding of the mechanisms of strain hardening, which may indicate a new path for producing high-strength materials, possibly scaled industrial. In this work are presented the microstructural, mechanical and electrical analysis of the aluminum alloy AA 1050 samples, commonly used for electrical purposes, with ultrafine grains (typical grain size below a micron) resulting from processing by ECAP, based on the method of SPD. / A PCE (Prensagem em Canais Equiangulares) consiste num processo mecânico de Deformação Plástica Intensa (DPI) onde um corpo de prova é sujeito a um esforço de cisalhamento ao passar pela região de intersecção de dois canais. Os principais objetivos desse método de Deformação Plástica Intensa é alcançar uma microestrutura com grãos ultrafinos, os quais possuem propriedades físicas muito superiores aos equivalentes materiais de grãos grosseiros, como um aumento em resistência mecânica e tenacidade simultâneas. O que torna esta técnica cada vez mais interessante é que como não há redução da seção transversal é possível obter acumulo de deformação plástica e com isso obter grãos na ordem de escala nanométrica. A grande vantagem do PCE é alcançar um grau de encruamento muito superior do que obtido por métodos convencionais de deformação plástica, e consequentemente, um refino de grão muito superior também. A importância do estudo do processo de deformação plástica intensa está na melhoria do desempenho mecânico dos materiais e na possibilidade de uma melhor compreensão dos mecanismos de encruamento, fato que pode indicar um novo caminho para a produção de materiais de alta resistência mecânica, possivelmente em escala industrial. Nesse trabalho são apresentadas as análises microestruturais, mecânicas e elétricas de amostras de ligas de alumínio AA 1050, comumente utilizadas para fins elétricos, com estrutura de grãos ultrafinos (tamanho de grão típico abaixo de um micrometro) resultantes do processamento por PCE, baseada no método de DPI.