Author’s Accepted Manuscript

A new method for severe plastic deformation of the

copper sheets

A. Torkestani, M.R. Dashtbayazi

www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

PII: S0921-5093(18)31250-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2018.09.054
Reference: MSA36935
To appear in: Materials Science & Engineering A
Received date: 15 July 2018
Revised date: 11 September 2018
Accepted date: 15 September 2018
Cite this article as: A. Torkestani and M.R. Dashtbayazi, A new method for
severe plastic deformation of the copper sheets, Materials Science & Engineering
A, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2018.09.054
This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for
publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of
the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and
review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form.
Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which
could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
 A new method for severe plastic deformation of the copper sheets

A. Torkestani, M. R. Dashtbayazi*

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid Bahonar

University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
*
Corresponding author. Postal address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid
Bahonar University of Kerman, Jomohori Boulevard, P.O. Box 76175-133, Kerman, Iran. Tel.: +98 34
32111763; fax: +98 34 32120964. dashtbayazi@uk.ac.ir (M. R. Dashtbayazi)

Abstract

A new severe plastic deformation technique, named "constrained studded pressing" (CSP),

was developed for the production of plate-shaped ultrafine grain metals without changing

their initial dimensions. In the CSP method, the material is subjected to the repetitive shear

deformation by dies with two orthogonal grooves then becomes flat. The repetitive shear

deformation and flattening done by constrained-blocks. Calculations showed that the

effective strain for the CSP method is more than the CGP (constrained groove pressing)

method. The microstructure and the mechanical properties of the CSPed samples investigated

by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile test, respectively. SEM observations

showed that the CSP method as the other repetitive corrugation and straightening (RCS)

methods is a useful method to refine the grain size. Mechanical properties investigations indicate

that the ductility of the samples produced by the CSP method is more than CGPed on, while

the ultimate tensile strength of them is approximately the same.

Keywords: Severe plastic deformation; Constrained Studded Pressing; Ductility;

Tensile Strength; Toughness; Copper.

1
1. Introduction
Metals and alloys with superior mechanical properties are desirable because they have a

wide range of applications [1]. In polycrystalline metals, a substantial increase in some

mechanical properties, like super-plasticity, fracture toughness, strength, and hardness, can be

obtained by reducing the grain size to sub-micrometer (ultra-fine) or nanometer scale [2].

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is one of the most efficient ways to produce nano-

structure (NS) or ultra-fine grain (UFG) materials [3]. UFG or NS materials processed by the

SPD methods have appealed to an increasing number of specialists in material sciences [4].

The SPD processes enhance the tensile strength and improve some mechanical properties like

super-plasticity, fatigue strength and the fracture toughness [5], but the main limitation of the

SPDed metals is low ductility [6]. Several methods have been proposed to apply the SPD for

various types of materials which can produce 100% dense and defect-free fine grain metals

[7]. The SPD methods can apply to different types of metals. Some of them like Equal-

Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) [8], High-Pressure Torsion (HPT) [9], Cyclic Closed-die

Forging (CCF) [10], Simple Shear Extrusion (SSE) [11], are proper for bulk products.

Methods like Accumulative Roll Bonding (ARB) [12], Repetitive Corrugation and

Straightening (RCS) [13], Multi-pass Coins Forging (MCF) [14] are proper for plate shape

structures. Furthermore, High-Pressure Tube Twisting (HPTT) [15] is suitable for tubes.

The ECAP method is a kind of double-axis extrusion or side extrusion [16]. The ECAP

method was proposed by Segal [17] and developed by many researchers like Valiev [18],

Langdon [19]. In the ECAP, the sample passed through two equal angular channel, so pure

shear deformation occurs [20]. The ECAP method was used to improve the properties of

various metals. The ECAP method has many disadvantages, such as a large extrusion force,

heterogeneous grain size, poor thermal stability [21].

2
 The HPT method develops by Valiev [22]. In the HPT, the conical sample subjected to

torsional shear strain under high hydrostatic pressure. It concluded from recent studies that

the HPT method was more effective than the ECAP method in producing exceptionally small

grain size [9]. But, the HPT method has the disadvantage that it utilizes specimens in the

form of relatively small discs and not available for the production of large materials.

The ARB method is the only SPD method using rolling deformation itself [23]. The rolling

is the most advantageous process for continuous production of plates. In the ARB method,

50% rolled sheet is cut into two same parts and stacked to be the initial dimension, then rolled

again., The ARB rolling must be a bonding process to get a single body [24]. The existence

of the poor interface may degrade the mechanical properties if a perfect bounding not

achieved through the ARB method [12], But this method is very useful for bulk sheet

production.

The RCS is another method which seems helpful for the continuous production of bulky

ultra-fine grain materials [13]. This method involves a repetitive corrugating and

straightening processes. In the first RCS step, the sample is pressed by grooved dies so, the

sample subjected to the in-plane shear strain, and in the second step, it flattened by flat dies

and the reverse shear strain occurs [25]. Since a large strain cannot apply to the most samples

at once, the RCS steps should repeat, so this method has low speed in the application of

plastic strain. Comparatively, in the RCS method, there is no bonding between sheets, so

there is no importance to sample cleanliness and surface quality [26]. In this method, usually

the length of samples increases after many passes, so some methods like Constrained Groove

Pressing (CGP) [27] and Semi-Constrained Groove Pressing (SCGP) [28] proposed, which in

them the sample constrained and its dimensions do not change.

The principle of the CGP and the SCGP methods are similar to the RCS. The RCS and the

CGP methods are the best methods for mass production of fine-grain metal sheets because,

3
these methods do not require any special equipment, and they need less pressure than the

other methods like the ARB, HPT or ECAP.

In this study, a new SPD method presented which is suitable for the production of the

ultra-fine grain metal sheets. The new method is based on the CGP method and called

"Constrained Studded Pressing" (CSP). It claimed that the CSP method is better than the

other RCS's methods like the CGP, because, the CSP method can apply more strain than the

CGP method in one pass, so in fewer numbers of pressing passes it produces favorable severe

plastic deformation in the material. The performance of the CSP and CGP methods compared

using experimental tests on pure copper sheets, the mechanical properties and the

microstructures of the samples in the same passes of each method investigated.

2. Illustration of the new SPD process

The SPD methods are efficient methods to produce the UFG or NS materials. One of the

best SPD methods for producing of the bulk plate-shape metals are the RCS methods. In the

RCS methods repetitive corrugating and straightening processes are applied to the sample. A

schematic illustration of the RCS method shown in Fig. 1. The primary geometry of the RCS

dies shown in Fig. 1a. As shown, the groove angle of the die, Ɵ , is 45 and its width and

height are both equal to the sample thickness, t. In the first step, as shown in Fig. 1b, a sample

is corrugated and subjected to the shear deformation by locating between a pair grooved dies.

In the second step, the corrugated sheet flattens between two flat dies and the previously

deformed region is subjected to the reverse shear deformation, as shown in Fig. 1c, but

previously undeformed regions remain undeformed [29]. To create a homogeneous

deformation in the sample, in the third step, as shown in Fig. 1d-1e, the previously flattened

sheet is pressed again between two grooved-dies, like the first step, but at this time the

sample is shifted to the right/left about a length of a groove. Finally, in the fourth step, as

shown in Fig. 1f, the corrugated sample becomes flat again. Since it requires more strain to

4
achieve the severe plastic deformation, it is necessary to repeat the corrugating and the

straightening processes.

The principle of the CGP method is similar to the RCS method [26]. Fig. 2 depicts the

schematic of the CGP method. In the CGP, as shown in Fig. 2, a plate-shaped sample is

located between a pair of the asymmetrically grooved dies tightly constrained. In the CGP

method, constrained deformation guarantees to keep constant across the sheet length during

the deformation.

In the current study, a new SPD method for producing the UFG metal sheet introduced.

This new method is called Constrained Studded Pressing (CSP). The CSP method found in

the CGP method. Fig. 3 shows schematic configurations of the CGP and CSP dies,

comparatively. Fig. 3a shows the CGP dies which grooved in one direction, but as shown in

Fig. 3b dies in the CSP method have studs. In the CSP method, like the CGP method, the

sample is pressed between two conjugated dies, and then the deformed sheet becomes flat

between two flat dies.

The studded dies can apply shear strain in two directions of the sample plate and make

more strain in comparison with one direction grooves, which can create strain only in one

direction, so in the CSP method, the severing plastic deformation can achieve in fewer

numbers of passes. Fig. 4 shows the geometry of the CSP dies. The width and height of the

studs and their roots space in two directions are equal to t, which is the same as the sample

thickness, and the angle of the studs (imperfect pyramids) is .

In the CSP method, the inclined regions of the sample in around the studs are subjected to

the in shear deformation, while the flat regions of the sample at the top of the studs and in the

gap between two of them remain undeformed. In the flattening step, the corrugated sheet

deforms in a reverse direction, and the previously deformed region subjected to the reverse

shear strain. As mentioned, the CGP or RCS one pass contains four pressing steps [30]. In

5
comparison, in the CSP method due to the applying shear strain in two direction,

simultaneously, the sample is subjected to more homogeneous shear strain, and only two

pressing steps have completed a pass.

Fig. 5 provided a Two/three-dimensional comparison of the deformed region for the

CSPed and the CGPed samples. The white zones represent the undeformed zone, and the

light/dark gray zones represent the shear deformed zone. As is clear, the strain of the white

zone is zero. According to the Shirdel et al. [29], the effective strain for a point in the

deformed zone of the CGPed sample is 0.58, which shown in Figs. 5a and 5c by light gray

zone. In this regions, the shear strain exists only in one direction. In the CSP method, as

shown in Figs. 5b and 5d, the different zones of deformation can be distinguished which

marked by dark and light gray. The deformation of the light gray areas includes shear

deformation in one direction and is similar to the deformation of the grooved sample, which

can easily understand by cutting the sample from the plane A, but the deformation of the dark

gray areas includes shear deformation in two directions. The deformation is not uniform in

this area and on the edge of the pyramid is higher. The applied effective strain for a point on

the edge of these pyramids in the deformed zone for the first step of the CSP calculated as

follows [26]:

γ
(1)

√ [(
(2)
) ( ) ( ) ] [ ]

(3)

(4)

√ [ √
(5)
]

where γ is the engineering shear strain, is the engineering shear strain in the z-x plane,

is the engineering shear strain in the z-y plane, t is the width and height of deformation
6
shear zone, is the effective strain, , , , are the normal strain in direction of the x, y

and z, , , are the shear strain in x-y, x-z and y-z planes, respectively.

As can be seen in the Figs 5c and 5d, the strain in the CSP method is higher than the CGP

which can illustrate by using the average strain of the specified area. It's easy to calculate that

the average strain of the CSPed sample is 20.7% more than the CGPed one. To calculate the

average strain, the cells of the Fig. 5d are assumed to be as points.

3. Experimental procedure
Dies which made for the CGP and the CSP processes shown in Fig. 6. The dies made from

the structural steel. Fig. 6a Reveals that the CGP die contains one-directional groove. Fig. 6b

shows the CSP die contains studs, which is made by two perpendicular grooves. Fig. 7 shows

the complete set of the CSP dies with constrained-blocks. Fig. 7 shows two studded dies,

which tightly constrained by two constrained-blocks. Constrained-blocks so designed that

length and thickness of the sheet were constant during deformation.

Commercial pure copper plate (99.9%) was selected as a raw material for processing by

the CSP method. The dimension of the plates is 40×40×1 mm. At first, the copper sheet,

which has elongated grains caused by rolling, was annealed at 650℃ for 2 hours to achieve

non-elongated microstructures. The CSP process was conducted for different passes, on a 20-

ton hydraulic press machine at room temperature. The samples coated with a lubricant before

pressing to reduce the frictional effects and the pressing was carried out at a constant press

speed of 0.1 mm/s. To compare the amount of plastic deformation per passes and its effect on

the mechanical properties and the microstructure of the samples, the CSP processes

considered for 5, 10, 15 and 20 passes. The microstructure and mechanical properties

enhancement of the CSP and CGP methods compared, more precisely. The mechanical

properties extracted by tensile tests. The tensile tests conducted on the CSPed and the CGPed

standard (ASTM E8-M) specimen with a gage length of 25mm using an STM-20 universal

7
testing machine at 0.5 mm/min constant speed, also all tests have been performed twice to

verify the validity of the results. The microstructure of the samples characterized by Scanning

Electron Microscopy (SEM). Specimens for the SEM were cut from the center of the sample

and mechanically polished to a mirror-like surface by mechanical grinding (using P800,

P1200, P2000 and P3000 silicon carbide sandpaper, respectively) and etched by 50% HNO3

to reveal the corresponding microstructure. The SEM illustrations were carried out by VEGA

TS5130MM device with SE detector, high vacuum conditions and at an acceleration voltage

of 20.0 kV.

4. Results and discussion

4-1. Microstructural observations
Fig. 8 shows the copper sheets after one pass of the CGP and the CSP processes. Fig. 8a

shows, in the CGP process the sample deformed along the grooves in one direction, but as

shown in Fig. 8b, the sample was deformed in two directions in the plane of the sheet by the

studs. The sheet sample is severe plastic-deformed in both of the CGP and the CSP processes,

but as mentioned already, the induced strain in the CSP process is higher than the CGP

process. Also, theoretically, it is desirable the strain induced on the sheet sample is

homogeneous in every part of the sheet but, results are showing the strain induced in the

severe plastic deformed sheet is inhomogeneous, practically [26].

As is known, the dislocation is one of the linear crystalline defects which is a factor for

atom slip in the lattice and the plastic deformation caused by dislocation movement which

occurs due to shear stress [31]. In the plastic deformation, the density of dislocations

increases. But, if the number of the dislocations is high, in addition to the positive effect on

the ease of deformation, it can have a negative effect. As a result of increasing the density of

dislocations, there are obstacles in the way of the movement of other dislocations which can

increase the strength of the material, in other words, deformation is not easily possible. The

8
accumulation of dislocations leads to the formation of sub-cells, which at their boundaries the

density of dislocations is higher. More dislocations accumulated on the new boundaries with

the continuation of deformation and finally, the new grains created [32]. In other words,

plastic deformation can reduce grain size.

Fig. 9 shows SEM micrographs of the samples after different passes of the CSP and the

CGP processes. The grain size measured by Heyn intercept method [33]. Fig. 9a shows SEM

micrograph of the initial annealed sample with a mean grain size of 15 μm, also as is clear the

grain size distribution was heterogeneous, as reported by other researchers [32-34], and some

of the grains showed a short elongated morphology. Figs. 9b to 9e show the microstructures

of the copper samples after 5, 10, 15 and 20 CSP passes, respectively. Also, the SEM

micrographs show structures that have undergone large amounts of plastic deformation, since

some well-developed equiaxed grains can be detected, which were probably formed by the

fragmentation of elongated grain. Figs. 9b to 9e also show the grain reduction during CSP

passes, so that, the mean grain size of the initial sample is about 15 and after 5th, 10th,

15th and 20th pass reduced to 13.33 , 11.26 10.43 , and 7.86 , respectively. Fig.

9f shows the microstructures of the copper sample after 10 passes of the CGP. The mean

grain size of the CGPed sample is about 11.34 , which is roughly similar to the grain size

of 10 passes of the CSPed sample (Fig. 9c). Comparing Figs. 9c and 9f shows the grains

morphology are also approximately same, but in CGPed sample (Fig. 9f) the elongated grains

are a little bit more, which is due to the grooved dies. It should be noted that the CGP pass

consist of four pressing step while the CSP pass is complete only by two pressing step.

The dependency of the grain refinement and the strain induced can explain by the

dislocation theory [34]. The dislocations theory represents microstructural evolution during

plastic deformation for metallic materials. The plastic deformation performs based on the

motion of the dislocations. When the motion of the dislocations restricts, it makes the

9
material stronger then the greater strength is required to continue the plastic deformation.

Work-hardening based on a principle of hindering the dislocation motion. During the CSP

and the CGP processes, the work-hardening occurs, and it causes to increase the dislocation

density due to the dislocation multiplication or formation of new dislocations. Increasing the

dislocation density reveals that the distance of the dislocations decreases. Interactions

between the dislocations result in the motion of dislocations constrained due to the presence

of other dislocations. The dislocation multiplication or formation of new dislocations increase

in dislocation density and thus, higher stresses are required to deform the material. Fig. 10

shows the grain size variation against the number of the CSP passes. The zero pass

represented the initial annealed sample. As shown in Fig. 10, increasing the plastic strain will

always reduce the mean grain size, as reported by other researchers [26, 35, 36]. The relation

between the strain rate and dislocation evolution is defined as follows [34]:

(6)

where is the rate of dislocation evolution, is the strain rate, b is the Burger’s vector, and

L is the dislocation mean free path. The grain size is determining by [37]:

(7)

where is a constant, is the dislocation density.

According to Equations 6 and 7, the grain reduction occurs when the dislocation density

increases during plastic deformation. Also, dynamic recovery occurs during the plastic

deformation. The dynamic recovery prevents the steady rate of the grain reduction. The

dynamic recovery causes to annihilate the dislocations, and the rate of dynamic recovery is

proportional to the dislocation density. With continuing the plastic deformation, dislocation

density increases, thereby increasing the rate of dynamic recovery which annihilates the

dislocations, so the rate of grain refinement at higher strains will decrease [38].

10
 4-2. Mechanical properties

As the metals are plastically deformed and the strain induced in them, the microstructure

and the mechanical properties change. The microstructural refinement is an important

phenomenon that takes place during the plastic deformation of the metals, where the grain

size refined and the properties of the metals improve [26]. Strength and ductility are

important mechanical properties for different materials. As well known, in the conventional

metal forming processes, the strength and ductility change, conversely [39]. In other words,

the conventional materials may be strong but may not be ductile and vice versa. Fig. 11

shows stress-strain curves of the samples after different CSP passes, as is clear, the severe

plastic deformation greatly changes the mechanical properties. Fig. 11 shows that the initial

sample has the highest breaking strain (ductility) and the lowest amount of ultimate tensile

stress (UTS) and yield stress (YS), actually, the toughness of the initial sheet sample before

plastic deformation is low. The toughness defined as the ability of a material to absorb energy

and plastically deform without fracturing (the area under the stress-strain curve). Some

investigations of the CGP process for the aluminum and the copper showed that the UTS and

the YS increased and the ductility decreased when the SPD pass number increased [26]. As

Fig. 11 shows, the toughness reduces until 10th CSP passes, then increases for 15th and 20th

CSP passes, respectively. In other words, after 10th CSP pass, the ductility begins to increase,

while the UTS remains approximately constant. Similar results also are given by Hajizadeh et

al. [40], which they applied different CGP passes on the aluminum samples and showed that

the ductility of them decreased by increasing the CGP pass number, and after 4 passes the

ductility increases while UTS is always increasing. As also shown in Fig. 11, the modulus of

elasticity for all samples are same, since, the modulus of elasticity is a structure-insensitive

[41].

11
 Fig. 12 shows the variation of the UTS and the elongation for the sheet samples for

different CSP passes. It observed that the UTS always increases but with the increase in

accumulated strain, the rate of increment gets decrease (after the 10th pass). Increasing of the

UTS of the samples can be explained by an increase in the amount of flow stress results from

the grain refinement phenomenon that occurs due to severe plastic deformation and also due

to the increase in the dislocation density which require higher applied stress for dislocation

motion by slip (strain hardening) [26, 29]. The decrease in the rate of UTS increment implies

that dislocation annihilation by the mechanism of cross-slip or climb of dislocations

associated with dynamic recovery [42]. In other words, the strain hardening mechanism is

dominant at small values of strain, and the dislocation density increases drastically, and with

an increase in dislocation density, the driving force for dynamic recovery gets increased [26,

43]. Decreasing in the rate of UTS increment was reported for the copper samples which

processed by ECAP method [44, 45]. As Fig. 12 shows the initial sample has an elongation of

33.6%, which is decreased to 27.2% and 16.6% after 5th and 10th passes, respectively. This

reduction in elongation can be due to the strain hardening which is explained, but after the

10th pass, elongation begins to increase, so that, after 20th pass, the elongation is 24.1%. This

increment in elongation caused by dynamic recovery. Similar results are also shown in [40]

which indicated that CGPed samples exhibited relatively high magnitudes of elongation (16.6

– 19%). These results show that though the material subjected to a high amount strain, it still

highly appropriate elongation. As already mentioned, after the 10th CSP pass, with increasing

dislocation density, dynamic recovery will be the dominant mechanism of dislocation

annihilation.

Fig. 13 shows the variation of the UTS and the grain size for different CSP passes. As Fig.

13 shows the grain size decreased and the UTS increased with the increase in the number of

CSP passes. These results in Fig. 13 are agreement with the Hall-Petch effect [46].

12
 Fig. 14 shows the stress-strain curve of the samples after different CGP passes, as

expected, the severe plastic deformation changes the mechanical properties. As others

showed, the CGP process for the copper caused that the UTS increased and the ductility

decreased [26]. As is clear, unlike the CSP method increasing the CGP passes almost

increased the strength and decreased the elongation. Fig. 15 illustrate this manner better,

which shows the variation of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the elongation for the

samples after different CGP passes. Fig. 12 illustrates that after 10 CSP passes the elongation

increase, while for CGP method it is not.

Fig. 16 shows the stress-strain curves of the CSPed and CGPed samples, after 10th pass,

which compared to the initial sample curve. As Fig. 16 shows, the UTS of the CSPed and

CGPed sample are approximately the same, but the CSPed sample elongation is more. As

already mentioned, the amount of strain in the CSP is more than CGP, which it seems that the

dynamic recovery in the CSP method activated sooner than the CGP [26]. Thus, more

elongation for the CSPed sample is not unpredictable.

Conclusion:
In this study, a new method for severe plastic deformation of the copper sheets introduced.

The new method was called constrained studded pressing (CSP). In the CSP method, a

copper sheet was subjected to the repetitive in-plane shear deformation and then straightened

by a set of conjunctival studded dies and flat dies, respectively, which are constrained tightly

by constrained-blocks. The grain size reduction and the mechanical properties variation of the

severe plastic deformed copper sheet were studied. The results show the grain size of the

copper sheet refined by the CSP method and its mechanical properties have changed

dramatically. The characteristics of the CSP method were compared to the CGP method

13
theoretically, experimentally and microstructurally, respectively. The main results are

following as:

1. The average strain of the CSP method is about 21% more than the CGP method for

one pass pressing.

2. In-plane plastic deformation in the CSP and the CGP methods achieves in two and

one directions in each pressing step, respectively. As a result, the plastic deformation

achieved in two steps CSPed sample (deformation and straightening) is similar to

deformation of four steps CGPed sample. So the CSP method is more competitive and

faster than the CGP method.

3. The CSP method is an economical method to refine the grain size of the metal sheets.

Results show that the average grain size of the copper sheet reduced by ~ 48% after

20 pressing passes of the CSP.

4. The ultimate tensile strength of the copper sheets increased about 34.6% after 20

passes of the CSP.

5. Results show that the ductility of copper samples decreases after zero to 10 passes,

and increases after 10 to 20 passes of the CSP, while the UTS of them always

increases after 0 to 20 CSP passes. Consequently, the toughness decreases when CSP

passes increase up to 10, then the toughness increases when passes increase from 10

to 20.

6. Unlike the CSP method, increasing the CGP passes almost increased the strength and

decreased the elongation.

References:
[1] Valiev, R., "Nanostructuring of metals by severe plastic deformation for advanced
properties," Nature Materials, vol. 3, p. 511, 08/01/online 2004.
[2] Valiev, R. Z., Islamgaliev, R. K., and Alexandrov, I. V., "Bulk nanostructured materials from
severe plastic deformation," Progress in materials science, vol. 45, pp. 103-189, 2000.
14
[3] Rosochowski, A., Severe plastic deformation technology: Whittles Publishing, 2017.
[4] Langdon, T. G., "Processing by severe plastic deformation: Historical developments and
current impact," in Materials Science Forum, 2011, pp. 9-14.
[5] Furukawa, M., Horita, Z., Nemoto, M., and Langdon, T. G., "The use of severe plastic
deformation for microstructural control," Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 324, pp.
82-89, 2002/02/15/ 2002.
[6] Wang, Y. M. and Ma, E., "Strain hardening, strain rate sensitivity, and ductility of
nanostructured metals," Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 375-377, pp. 46-52,
2004/07/01/ 2004.
[7] Segal, V. M., Fundamentals and Engineering of Severe Plastic Deformation: Nova Science
Publishers, 2010.
[8] Segal, V., "Equal channel angular extrusion: from macromechanics to structure formation,"
Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 271, pp. 322-333, 1999.
[9] Zhilyaev, A. P. and Langdon, T. G., "Using high-pressure torsion for metal processing:
fundamentals and applications," Progress in Materials Science, vol. 53, pp. 893-979, 2008.
[10] Guo, W., Wang, Q., Ye, B., and Zhou, H., "Microstructure and mechanical properties of
AZ31 magnesium alloy processed by cyclic closed-die forging," Journal of Alloys and
Compounds, vol. 558, pp. 164-171, 2013.
[11] Pardis, N. and Ebrahimi, R., "Deformation behavior in Simple Shear Extrusion (SSE) as a
new severe plastic deformation technique," Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 527,
pp. 355-360, 2009/12/15/ 2009.
[12] Saito, Y., Utsunomiya, H., Tsuji, N., and Sakai, T., "Novel ultra-high straining process for
bulk materials—development of the accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) process," Acta
materialia, vol. 47, pp. 579-583, 1999.
[13] Sunil, B. R., "Repetitive corrugation and straightening of sheet metals," Materials and
Manufacturing Processes, vol. 30, pp. 1262-1271, 2015.
[14] Lowe, T. C. and Valiev, R. Z., Investigations and applications of severe plastic deformation
vol. 80: Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
[15] Tóth, L., Arzaghi, M., Fundenberger, J., Beausir, B., Bouaziz, O., and Arruffat-Massion, R.,
"Severe plastic deformation of metals by high-pressure tube twisting," Scripta Materialia,
vol. 60, pp. 175-177, 2009.
[16] Zhou, W., Lin, J., Dean, T. A., and Wang, L., "A novel application of sideways extrusion to
produce curved aluminium profiles: feasibility study," Procedia Engineering, vol. 207, pp.
2304-2309, 2017.
[17] Segal, V., "Materials processing by simple shear," Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol.
197, pp. 157-164, 1995.
[18] Valiev, R. Z. and Langdon, T. G., "Principles of equal-channel angular pressing as a
processing tool for grain refinement," Progress in materials science, vol. 51, pp. 881-981,
2006.
[19] Langdon, T. G., "The processing of ultrafine-grained materials through the application of
severe plastic deformation," Journal of Materials Science, vol. 42, pp. 3388-3397, 2007.
[20] Azushima, A., Kopp, R., Korhonen, A., Yang, D., Micari, F., Lahoti, G., et al., "Severe
plastic deformation (SPD) processes for metals," CIRP Annals-Manufacturing Technology,
vol. 57, pp. 716-735, 2008.
[21] Parshikov, R., Rudskoy, A., Zolotov, A., and Tolochko, O., "Technological problems of equal
channel angular pressing," Rev. Adv. Mater. Sci, vol. 34, pp. 26-36, 2013.
[22] Edalati, K. and Horita, Z., "A review on high-pressure torsion (HPT) from 1935 to 1988,"
Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 652, pp. 325-352, 2016.
[23] Tsuji, N., Saito, Y., Lee, S. H., and Minamino, Y., "ARB (Accumulative Roll‐Bonding) and
other new techniques to produce bulk ultrafine grained materials," Advanced Engineering
Materials, vol. 5, pp. 338-344, 2003.
[24] Saito, Y., Tsuji, N., Utsunomiya, H., Sakai, T., and Hong, R., "Ultra-fine grained bulk
aluminum produced by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) process," Scripta materialia, vol.
39, pp. 1221-1227, 1998.

15
[25] Pouraliakbar, H., Firooz, S., Jandaghi, M. R., Khalaj, G., and Nazari, A., "Predicting the
ultimate grain size of aluminum sheets undergone constrained groove pressing," The
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 86, pp. 1639-1658, 2016.
[26] Gupta, A. K., Maddukuri, T. S., and Singh, S. K., "Constrained groove pressing for sheet
metal processing," Progress in Materials Science, vol. 84, pp. 403-462, 2016.
[27] Mohammadi, B., Tavoli, M., and Djavanroodi, F., "Effects of Constrained Groove Pressing
(CGP) on the plane stress fracture toughness of pure copper," Structural engineering and
mechanics, vol. 52, pp. 957-969, 2014.
[28] Morattab, S., Ranjbar, K., and Reihanian, M., "On the mechanical properties and
microstructure of commercially pure Al fabricated by semi-constrained groove pressing,"
Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 528, pp. 6912-6918, 2011.
[29] Shirdel, A., Khajeh, A., and Moshksar, M. M., "Experimental and finite element investigation
of semi-constrained groove pressing process," Materials & Design, vol. 31, pp. 946-950,
2010/02/01/ 2010.
[30] Huang, J., Zhu, Y., Jiang, H., and Lowe, T., "Microstructures and dislocation configurations
in nanostructured Cu processed by repetitive corrugation and straightening," Acta Materialia,
vol. 49, pp. 1497-1505, 2001.
[31] Meyers, M. A., Mishra, A., and Benson, D. J., "Mechanical properties of nanocrystalline
materials," Progress in materials science, vol. 51, pp. 427-556, 2006.
[32] Segal, V., Beyerlein, I., Tome, C., Chuvildeev, V., and Kopylov, V., "Fundamentals and
engineering of severe plastic deformation," Nova, 2010.
[33] Jefferies, Z., Kline, A., and Zimmer, E., "The determination of grain size in metals," Trans
AIME, vol. 57, pp. 594-607, 1916.
[34] Roters, F., Raabe, D., and Gottstein, G., "Work hardening in heterogeneous alloys—a
microstructural approach based on three internal state variables," Acta Materialia, vol. 48, pp.
4181-4189, 2000/11/08/ 2000.
[35] Lowe, T. C. and Valiev, R. Z., "The use of severe plastic deformation techniques in grain
refinement," JOM Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, vol. 56, pp. 64-68,
2004.
[36] Horita, Z., Fujinami, T., Nemoto, M., and Langdon, T. G., "Equal-channel angular pressing of
commercial aluminum alloys: grain refinement, thermal stability and tensile properties,"
Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, vol. 31, pp. 691-701, 2000.
[37] McKenzie, P. W. J., Lapovok, R., and Estrin, Y., "The influence of back pressure on ECAP
processed AA 6016: Modeling and experiment," Acta Materialia, vol. 55, pp. 2985-2993,
2007/05/01/ 2007.
[38] Estrin, Y., Molotnikov, A., Davies, C. H. J., and Lapovok, R., "Strain gradient plasticity
modelling of high-pressure torsion," Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, vol. 56,
pp. 1186-1202, 2008/04/01/ 2008.
[39] Nene, S. S., Frank, M., Liu, K., Sinha, S., Mishra, R. S., McWilliams, B., et al., "Reversed
strength-ductility relationship in microstructurally flexible high entropy alloy," Scripta
Materialia, vol. 154, pp. 163-167, 2018/09/01/ 2018.
[40] Hajizadeh, K., Ejtemaei, S., and Eghbali, B., "Microstructure, hardness homogeneity, and
tensile properties of 1050 aluminum processed by constrained groove pressing," Applied
Physics A, vol. 123, p. 504, 2017.
[41] Dieter, G. E. and Bacon, D., Mechanical Metallurgy: McGraw-Hill, 1988.
[42] Krishnaiah, A., Chakkingal, U., and Venugopal, P., "Production of ultrafine grain sizes in
aluminium sheets by severe plastic deformation using the technique of groove pressing,"
Scripta Materialia, vol. 52, pp. 1229-1233, 2005.
[43] Hosseini, E. and Kazeminezhad, M., "A new microstructural model based on dislocation
generation and consumption mechanisms through severe plastic deformation," Computational
Materials Science, vol. 50, pp. 1123-1135, 2011.
[44] Hosseini, E. and Kazeminezhad, M., "A hybrid model on severe plastic deformation of
copper," Computational Materials Science, vol. 44, pp. 1107-1115, 2009/02/01/ 2009.

16
[45] Hosseini, E. and Kazeminezhad, M., "The effect of ECAP die shape on nanostructure of
materials," Computational Materials Science, vol. 44, pp. 962-967, 2009/01/01/ 2009.
[46] Petch, N., "The cleavage strength of polycrystals," Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, vol.
174, pp. 25-28, 1953.

Fig 1: The schematic representation of the RCS method, a) RCS dies, b) first corrugation,
c) first flattening, d) sample shifted to the right or left, e) second corrugation, f) second
flattening.

17
Fig 2: The schematic illustration of constrained groove pressing (CGP) method a) grooving,
b) flattening pass.

18
Fig 3: The die configuration of a) CGP and b) Constrained Studded Pressing (CSP) methods.

19
Fig 4: Geometry of the CSP dies, t is width and height of studs and the angle of the imperfect
pyramid is 45o.

20
 (a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig 5: Schematic of the compressed sample in CSP and CGP methods, a) 3-dimensional
groove region for the CGP method, b) 3-dimensional schematic of stud region for the CSP
method, c) 2-dimensional schematic of the CGPed sample, d) 2-dimensional of the CSPed
sample.

21
Fig 6: Dies for a) the CGP and b) the CSP methods.

22
Fig 7: The CSP dies setup.

23
Fig 8: The corrugated sample after one pass for the a) CGP and b) CSP methods.

24
 (a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

Fig 9: SEM micrograph of the samples, a) initial annealed, b) 5 SCP pass, c) 10 CSP pass, d)
15 CSP pass, e) 20 CSP pass and f) 10 CGP pass.

25
 16

Mean grain size (μm) 14

12

10

6
0 5 10 15 20
Pass Number

Fig 10: Variation of the grain size against the number of CSP passes.

26
 300
Initial sample
5 pass CSP
250
10 pass CSP
15 pass CSP
200
Stress (MPa)

20 pass CSP

150

100

50

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
Strain

Fig 11: The stress-strain curves of samples for different CSP passes.

27
 40 300

250
Elongation (%)
30 200

UTS (MPa)
150

20 100

Elongation 50
UTS
10 0
0 5 10 15 20
Pass Number

Fig 12: Variation of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the elongation for the samples
after different CSP passes.

28
 16 300

Mean grain size (μm) 250

12

UTS (MPa)
200

150
8 Grain Size
UTS 100

4 50
0 5 10 15 20
Pass Number

Fig 13: The variation of the grain size and the UTS of samples against CSP passes.

29
Fig 14: The stress-strain curves of samples for different CGP passes

30
 38 300
Elongation
UTS
Elongation (%)

28 250

UTS (MPa)
18 200

8 150
0 5 10 15
Passb Number

Fig 15: Variation of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the elongation for the samples
after different CGP passes.

31
 250 Initial sample
10 pass CGP
200 10 pass CSP
Stress (MPa)

150

100

50

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
Strain

Fig 16: The stress-strain curves of the initial sample and the samples after 10 passes of the
CSP and the CGP methods.

32