Incremental ECAP of tubular components: FE simulation

Severe plastic deformation is a method of refining grain structure and improving properties of metallic materials. It is usually carried out on simple billets such as bars, plates and sheets, which are then converted into more complex shapes. One of those shapes, finding applications in many products, is tube. This paper presents an alternative approach to manufacturing tubes with ultrafine grained structure, which is based on direct severe plastic deformation of standard, coarse grained tubes. A new process of incremental equal channel angular pressing is proposed to be used for this purpose. Finite element simulation is used to analyse different process configurations and tool geometry, giving a valuable insight into feasibility of this new approach.