Grain refinement and microstructure evolution in aluminum A2618 alloy by high-pressure torsion

This work presents a study related to the grain refinement of an aluminum A2618 alloy achieved by High-Pressure Torsion (HPT) known as a process of Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD). The HPT is conducted on disks of the alloy under an applied pressure of 6 GPa for 1 and 5 turns with a rotation speed of 1 rpm at room temperature. The HPT processing leads to microstructural refinement with an average grain size of ~250 nm at a saturation level after 5 turns. Gradual increases in hardness are observed from the beginning of straining up to a saturation level. This study thus suggests that hardening due to grain refinement is attained by the HPT processing of the A2618 alloy at room temperature.