Abstract

This paper presents the microstructure and the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline AA2219 processed by multi axial forging (MAF) at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. The X-ray diffraction pattern and transmission electron microscopy micrographs in the initial microstructure characterization indicate a more effective severe plastic deformation during the cryogenic MAF than the same process conducted at room temperature. MAF at cryogenic temperature results in crystallite size reduction to nanoscales as well as second phase particles breakage to finer particles which are the crucial factors to increasing the mechanical properties of the material. Fractography analysis and tensile tests results show that cryogenic forging does not only increase the mechanical strength and toughness of the alloys significantly, but also improves the ductility of the material in comparison with the conventional forging. In this comparative regard, cryogenic processing provides 44% increase in the tensile strength of the material only after 2 forging cycles when compared to the room temperature process. In addition, further forging process to the next cycles slightly enhances the tensile strength at the expense of ductility due to less ability of the dislocations to accumulate. However, the ductility of the ambient temperature forged samples decreases at a faster rate than that of cryoforged samples.

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