Severely deformed copper by equal channel angular pressing

Mechanical and microstructural analysis of equal channel angular pressed copper was experimentally investigated. The results showed that the hardness distribution uniformity was rapidly decreased after the first pass and gradually improved at the following passes. Also, the bottom region of the pressed material experienced lower Vickers hardness magnitude irrespective of pass number. Furthermore, the addition of 0.1% magnesium to the pure copper had a considerable effect on the distribution uniformity. In addition, the material fracture mode changed from ductile to brittle by the alteration of the dimples to cleavage planes mechanism. Moreover, the formability index was dramatically reduced after the first pass and slowly improved at the succeeding passes. Eventually, ECAP process led to the increment of low angle grain boundaries and the decrease of high angle grain boundaries at the initial passes and vice versa at the subsequent ones.