Grain refinement and mechanical properties of Cu-Al 10%- Fe 4% alloy produced by equal channel angular extrusion

Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) process was carried out for a commercial aliminium bronze alloy (Cu-Al 10%-Fe 4%) produced by hot-rolling at high temperatures. A suitable processing temperature of ECAE for the alloy was determined. The effect of ECAE on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the alloy was investigated. Experimental results showed that the extrusion temperature must be higher than the eutectoid reaction temperature of the alloy. Optical electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to study the microstructural evolution of the alloy. The results showed that the grains of the alloy were refined after ECAE and gradually reduced with the increase of the pass number; ccordingly, the mechanical properties of the alloy were significantly improved after ECAE.