Consolidation of Cu and Amorphous ZR-Based Powders by Severe Plastic Deformation

Abstract

Consolidation of amorphous Zr-based and Cu nanoparticles is achieved by multipass equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE). Experimental results for four different materials are reported: wrought Cu, microcrystalline Cu, nanocrystalline Cu and Zr-based amorphous metal alloy. Results show that route 2B provides better consolidation characteristics than other routes. The consolidated microcrystalline Cu showed mechanical properties comparable to deformed wrought material while the nanocrystalline Cu demonstrated high tensile strengths, but only limited ductility. The Zr-based amorphous metal consolidate retains amorphous character after consolidation to near full density with one extrusion pass. The resulting mechanical properties are comparable to those of a similar cast Zr-based amorphous alloy. These results show that ECAE possesses interesting benefits and significant challenges for the effective consolidation of particulate into materials with high structural efficiency, and may be a viable method for fabrication of bulk nanostructured materials.