MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF COMMERCIALLY PURE ALUMINIUM SUBJECTED TO REPETITIVE BENDING AND STRAIGHTENING PROCESS

Abstract

The feasibility of using the Repetitive Bending and Straightening (RBS) process to improve the mechanical properties of commercial purity aluminium has been investigated. RBS was carried out by bending with a U-bending die of 10 mm radius followed by straightening between flat dies. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) slightly increased with increasing number of passes. The maximum UTS of 84 MPa and YS of 68 MPa were obtained after four passes and % elongation to failure decreased from 46% to 35% after four passes. The RBS processed A1 showed poor improvement in mechanical properties as compared to other SPD processes. Repetitive bending and straightening process is therefore not an effective process to introduce fine grained structures in metals or alloys.