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In this study, forming limit diagrams (FLDs), fracture toughness (FT), mechanical, magnetic, and electro-physical properties of Al/Fe2O3 composites have been investigated experimentally. Accumulative-roll-bonding (ARB) process was used to manufacture composite samples. Then, Al/Fe2O3 composites have been produced at 300∘C up to eight ARB passes. Also, magnetic composites have been fabricated with 0, 5% and 10wt.% of particles. The interlayer bonding quality was improved at higher passes. By studying the SEM rapture morphology, it was shown that the rapture mode changed to shear ductile for samples with more passes. For composite samples fabricated at higher passes and in comparison with the annealed sample, elongated dimples were turned to shallow dimples. FLDs area as the main forming criterion dropped severely after pass one and then began to improve at higher passes. Fracture test results showed that after the 8th pass, the value of FT improved gradually to the maximum value of 34.3MPam1∕2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, Al/18Cu/3WC/3MoS 2 (wt.%) multilayered hybrid composites were fabricated by accumulative roll bonding (ARB), and their electrical and mechanical properties were investigated. After seven ARB cycles, an Al-matrix multilayered hybrid composite with a uniform distribution of WC-MoS 2 particles and Cu islands was achieved. The presence of the WC-MoS 2 particles and Cu islands significantly affected the electrical and mechanical properties of the fabricated composites. The composite obtained after seven ARB cycles showed an enhanced strength of 259 MPa. Also, it was found that the electrical conductivity of the Al matrix decreased by applied strain (about 19 % IACS) and the presence of the WC-MoS 2 particles. By annealing the fabricated composite obtained from final cycles, the electrical conductivity increased from 54 % IACS to 71 % IACS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) method, a severe plastic deformation (SPD) process, was used to fabricate copper-2 wt% silicon carbide composite strips. The ARB process was successfully conducted for up to nine cycles on pure copper strips with silicon carbide particles distributed between them, as well as on monolithic copper. Equiaxed tensile and Vickers hardness tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties of the samples. SEM was utilized to study the fracture surfaces and to determine the fracture mechanism of ARB processed monolithic copper and composite samples after the tensile test. Texture parameters were calculated through X-ray analysis. The Rietveld method using MAUD software were employed to assess the crystallite size of the samples. Results indicated that average amount of porosity decreased and interface bonding between copper strip layers improved with increasing the number of ARB cycles. Moreover, an increased number of cycles led to homogeneous distribution of SiC particles within the copper matrix. The tensile strength of the fabricated composites improved with an increase in the number of cycles, ultimately reaching 483 MPa after nine cycles, compared to 388 MPa for the composite processed with a single cycle of ARB and 194 MPa for annealed copper strips. Initially, the elongation of the composite samples decreased dramatically to about 6% after applying five cycle of ARB process from the 46% observed for annealed pure copper strip. However, it improved as the process continued, reaching 8.9% after the ninth cycle. Investigation of fracture surfaces after the tensile test using SEM revealed that the dominant failure mode was shear ductile fracture. Analysis of sample textures demonstrated that the dominant texture was (100). Crystallite sizes for pure copper and nine cyclesrolled composites, as determined by Reitveld method, reached 111 nm and 89 nm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, accumulative roll bonding is used to fabricate Al base composites with the thickness of 1 mm. then, fracture toughness, mechanical properties and forming limit diagrams (FLD) of them have been investigated versus ARB parameters experimentally. Boron nitride (BN) particles are used as reinforcements and Al/BN composites have been manufactured up to 10 accumulative rolling passes at 300°C. after the 10th pass, the strength of composite samples reached to 168 MPa registering 248% improvement than the initial AA1100 sample. Also, the bonding quality among the composite layers improved by increasing the number of passes. A uniform scattering of Boron nitride particles and bonding strength and quality was improved at higher number of passes. Moreover, the fracture mode at higher passes was observed as shear ductile that had been changed from deep dimples (for low number of passes). The area under the FLDs, dropped sharply after the first pass and then improved at higher passes, as the criterion of formability. Finally, fracture toughness enhanced to the maximum value of 30 MPam1/2 for the composite samples fabricated with 10 passes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) method, a severe plastic deformation (SPD) process, was used to fabricate copper-2 wt% silicon carbide composite strips. The ARB process was successfully conducted for up to nine cycles on pure copper strips with silicon carbide particles distributed between them, as well as on monolithic copper. Equiaxed tensile and Vickers hardness tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties of the samples. SEM was utilized to study the fracture surfaces and to determine the fracture mechanism of ARB processed monolithic copper and composite samples after the tensile test. Texture parameters were calculated through X-ray analysis. The Rietveld method using MAUD software were employed to assess the crystallite size of the samples. Results indicated that average amount of porosity decreased and interface bonding between copper strip layers improved with increasing the number of ARB cycles. Moreover, an increased number of cycles led to homogeneous distribution of SiC particles within the copper matrix. The tensile strength of the fabricated composites improved with an increase in the number of cycles, ultimately reaching 483 MPa after nine cycles, compared to 388 MPa for the composite processed with a single cycle of ARB and 194 MPa for annealed copper strips. Initially, the elongation of the composite samples decreased dramatically to about 6% after applying five cycle of ARB process from the 46% observed for annealed pure copper strip. However, it improved as the process continued, reaching 8.9% after the ninth cycle. Investigation of fracture surfaces after the tensile test using SEM revealed that the dominant failure mode was shear ductile fracture. Analysis of sample textures demonstrated that the dominant texture was (100). Crystallite sizes for pure copper and nine cycles-rolled composites, as determined by Reitveld method, reached 111 nm and 89 nm, respectively.

Abstract We created AA2024–AA1050 and AA2024–AA1050/0.005 vol.% Al2O3 nanocomposites by six accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process cycles. We used AA2024 and AA1050 sheets with a thickness of 0.7 mm and plate-shaped alumina nanoparticles to create a composite. The two AA1050 and one AA2024 sheets (among the two AA1050 sheets) were ARB-ed up to six cycles with and without adding alumina nanoparticles. Also, a sample of the AA1050 without composite making was ARB-ed up to six cycles. We aged some composites after the ARB process in the furnace at 110, 150, and 190 °C. This project performed SEM, TEM, and EDS-MAP analyses, tensile strength, microhardness, and Pin-on-Disc tests to study the ARB-ed sheets. The results of the tensile tests showed that the tensile strength of AA2024–AA1050 created by the six cycles ARB process was two times more than primary AA1050. Also, the wear resistance of this composite was 74% more than six cycles ARB-ed the AA1050. Using 0.005 vol.% alumina nanoparticles in AA2024–AA1050 composite improved its wear resistance by 30%. In the following, the aging process caused an improvement in tensile strength and total elongation of AA2024–AA1050/Al2O3 nanocomposites.

In this study, electrophysical, electromagnetic and mechanical properties, fracture toughness and forming limit diagram (FLD) of Al base composite samples have been studied experimentally. All samples have been fabricated via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process. To this purpose, AA1060/ Fe2O3 composite strips with thickness of 1 mm have been fabricated with up to eight ARB passes at 3 0 0 ∘ C. In this study, magnetic Al/Fe2O3 composites reinforced with 0, 5% and 10 wt.% of Fe2O3 particles have been manufactured via ARB. The microstructure was studied by optical microscopy (OM). Also, by decreasing the thickness of layers at higher number of passes (increasing the plastic strain), the bonding quality among the layers was improved. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) fracture surface morphology of samples after the tensile test showed that by increasing the passes, the fracture style (mode) converted to shear ductile at higher ARB passes. So, deep dimples shrink slowly and their number and depth decreased relative to the annealed sample. As the criterion of formability, the area under the FLDs dropped sharply after the first pass and then improved by increasing the passes. Results of fracture test have shown that the value of fracture toughness has been enhanced continually to the maximum value of 34.3 MPam 1 / 2 at the 8th pass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We created AA2024–AA1050 and AA2024–AA1050/0.005 vol.% Al2O3 nanocomposites by six accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process cycles. We used AA2024 and AA1050 sheets with a thickness of 0.7 mm and plate-shaped alumina nanoparticles to create a composite. The two AA1050 and one AA2024 sheets (among the two AA1050 sheets) were ARB-ed up to six cycles with and without adding alumina nanoparticles. Also, a sample of the AA1050 without composite making was ARB-ed up to six cycles. We aged some composites after the ARB process in the furnace at 110, 150, and 190 °C. This project performed SEM, TEM, and EDS-MAP analyses, tensile strength, microhardness, and Pin-on-Disc tests to study the ARB-ed sheets. The results of the tensile tests showed that the tensile strength of AA2024–AA1050 created by the six cycles ARB process was two times more than primary AA1050. Also, the wear resistance of this composite was 74% more than six cycles ARB-ed the AA1050. Using 0.005 vol.% alumina nanoparticles in AA2024–AA1050 composite improved its wear resistance by 30%. In the following, the aging process caused an improvement in tensile strength and total elongation of AA2024–AA1050/Al2O3 nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, forming limit diagram (FLD) of aluminum alloy 1050 (AA 1050) sheet produced by Accumulative Roll Bonding (ARB) is investigated numerically and experimentally. The Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) ductile damage model is used to predict sheet failure and obtain its FLD using numerical simulation in Abaqus/Explicit. Nucleation and growth of voids in the material during the deformation is the basic concept of the GTN damage model. This damage model has nine basic parameters that obtaining through experimental tests is time-consuming and costly, and in some cases, impossible. Thus, the present study tries to obtain the above parameters for fine-grained aluminum 1050 fabricated by ARB using the finite element method. Therefore, after considering each parameter's interval, numerical simulation and the anti-inference method are used in the uniaxial tensile test to identify GTN parameters for the AA 1050 sheet using FEM. The optimum parameters of the GTN model are used in the FEM of the Nakazima test for FLD prediction. Also, The FLD of the fine-grained aluminum sheet is obtained experimentally using the Nakazima test. Finally, the numerical and experimental FLDs are compared for validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six cycles of ARB at three elevated temperatures (400, 450, and 500 °C) were applied on Al/Mg laminated metallic composites. Samples were studied by microscopy, spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction to investigate the effect of temperature on microstructures, second phases, and preferred crystallographic orientations. Stoichiometry analysis indicated the formation of non-equilibrium intermetallic phases at the Al/Mg interface. The thickness of the intermetallic layer increased in consecutive passes and by increasing process temperature. Annealing moved the composition toward predicted thermodynamically stable phases by absorbing Al and rejecting excess Mg. EDS examination showed the formation of Al2Mg and Al30Mg23 phases in addition to the previously reported Al12Mg17 and Al3Mg2. XRD results indicated that the preferred crystallographic orientation of the Al layer deviates from the expected plain-strain rolling texture. At the same time, for the Mg layer, the hexagonal c-axis remained parallel to the applied rolling force direction. The most uniform crack-free structure has been formed at 450 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we successfully obtained a 2Mg-Fe mixture through mechanical alloying (MA) and processed it via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) (MA+ARB). Our primary focus was to analyze the impact of ambient air exposure while also evaluating the processing route. Some powder samples were exposed to air for 12 months (stored in a glass desiccator with an average yearly temperature and relative humidity of ~27 °C and 50.5%) before undergoing ARB processing. The Mg samples obtained after ARB processing exhibited a (002)-type texture. Our results demonstrate that all samples, including those processed via ARB, could rapidly absorb hydrogen within a matter of minutes despite considerable differences in surface area between powders and rolled samples. Grain size reduction by MA and ARB processing and texturing may have influenced this behavior. ARB-processed samples reached approximately 60% (~1.8 wt.%) of their maximum acquired capacity within just 24 min compared to powders (~2.2 wt.%) stored for a year, which took 36 min. In addition, the desorption temperatures (~300 °C) were lower than those of MgH2 (~434 °C). The absorption and desorption kinetics remained fast, even after prolonged exposure to air. Although there were minor variations in capacities, our overall findings are promising since scalable techniques such as ARB have the potential to produce hydrogen storage materials that are both safe and cost-effective in a highly competitive market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, microstructure, recrystallization texture, and mechanical properties of Al/WO3/SiC hybrid nanocomposite was investigated by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), analysis of orientation distribution function (ODF), and uniaxial tensile test during accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process. Microstructural observations show that the recrystallized grains are elongated in the rolling direction (RD) due to the Zener-pinning of nanoparticles at high angle grain boundaries and therefore growth is inhibited in the normal direction (ND) during the ARB process. The ODF investigation confirmed that after 5 cycles of ARB process, recrystallization is associated with nucleation of Goss, Q, and P components. When the number of ARB cycle was increased, Goss and Q recrystallization textures were eliminated, but on the other hand, the P, B and B* texture components were strongly developed. The ND-Cube and RT-Goss recrystallization texture is also formed with low intensity at the last stages. Also, the A and A* shear textures which formed in the fifth cycle, shifted towards the Dillamor and Cu textures with increasing the number of ARB cycles. Furthermore, the samples were heated using DSC under Argon atmosphere with four different heating rates. The Kissinger, Ozawa, Boswell, and Starink methods were used to determine the recrystallization kinetics. It can be seen that recrystallization temperature and thereby activation energy (Ea) decreases with increasing the number of ARB cycles. Furthermore, the tensile strengths and elongation of the hybrid nanocomposite increased and decreased by increasing the number of ARB cycle and reached to a maximum value of 204.5Mpa and 6.1% at the end of 9th cycle, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forming limit diagram (FLD), mechanical properties and fracture toughness of aluminum foil composites fabricated via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process have been investigated as its novelty for the first time. To do this, AA1050/TiC composite foils with thickness of 0.2 mm have been fabricated from one up to twelve ARB passes at 320 °C. Also, optical microscopy (OM) was used to investigate the effect of cumulative forming process on the grain structure. The strength of samples improved to 168. 6 MPa after the 12th cumulative rolling pass, registering 248% improvement in comparison with initial AA1050 sample. Also, by cumulating the plastic strain at higher passes, the bonding quality among composite layers enhanced. SEM fracture surface morphology of samples showed the conversion of fracture mode to shear mode for composites fabricated at high number of passes. So, in comparison with the annealed sample, deep dimples are shrinking slowly and their number and depth were reduced. As the criterion of formability and at higher passes, the area under the FLDs, dropped sharply for one pass processed sample and then improved. Results of fracture test revealed that the value of fracture toughness enhanced continually and got to the 30 MPa.m1/2 at the 12th pass. Grain refinement and ARB process nature are two main mechanisms which are responsible for all ductility changes and mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, graphene reinforced Inconel 718 composites were produced using a novel hybrid accumulative roll bonding (ARB)–gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and the mechanical and wear resistance of the composite were assessed. The microstructure characterization was studied by XRD, SEM, TEM and Raman spectroscopy. The results display that GTAW approach was a sustainable way to produce Inconel 718 based composite while addition of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) leads to a substantial improvement in strength of superalloy matrix, as well as the wear performance enhancement. Both yield strength and tensile strength of composite specimen with 1.0 wt% GNPs was 35% and 45% higher than those of base Inconel material, and the friction coefficient and wear rate were 204% and 52% lower than those of non-reinforced Inconel 718. Such enhancement of tribological properties can be ascribed to the hardness increase of GNPs–containing specimens and the formation of GNPs protecting film on the worn exteriors.

This study investigated the microstructure, texture, and mechanical properties of 1050 aluminum alloy sheets that underwent the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) method. The ARB proceeded up to eight passes in three ways: conventional process, preheat between rolling passes (preheating) or anneal between rolling passes (annealing). Heat treatment was done between the ARB passes for 5 min at 150 °C. The mean grain width of the 1050 Al sheet that was 11 μm before ARB, decreased to 295.73 nm, 317.33 nm, or 339.23 nm after six ARB passes in the conventional process, annealed or preheated conditions, respectively. Concurrent heat treatments cause a decrease in the strength of the texture components of Al sheets that were elaborated by the ARB method. Even though conventional and annealed processes successfully enhanced the microhardness by ∼80% and tripled the tensile strength, these improvements were weaker in the preheated condition than the other conditions due to dynamic recovery.

In this study, we successfully obtained a 2Mg-Fe mixture through mechanical alloying (MA) and processed it via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) (MA+ARB). Our primary focus was to analyze the impact of ambient air exposure while also evaluating the processing route. Some powder samples were exposed to air for 12 months (stored in a glass desiccator with an average yearly temperature and relative humidity of ~27 °C and 50.5%) before undergoing ARB processing. The Mg samples obtained after ARB processing exhibited a (002)-type texture. Our results demonstrate that all samples, including those processed via ARB, could rapidly absorb hydrogen within a matter of minutes despite considerable differences in surface area between powders and rolled samples. Grain size reduction by MA and ARB processing and texturing may have influenced this behavior. ARB-processed samples reached approximately 60% (~1.8 wt.%) of their maximum acquired capacity within just 24 min compared to powders (~2.2 wt.%) stored for a year, which took 36 min. In addition, the desorption temperatures (~300 °C) were lower than those of MgH2 (~434 °C). The absorption and desorption kinetics remained fast, even after prolonged exposure to air. Although there were minor variations in capacities, our overall findings are promising since scalable techniques such as ARB have the potential to produce hydrogen storage materials that are both safe and cost-effective in a highly competitive market.

A multiple processing technique that combines cold spraying (CS) and accumulative roll bonding (ARB) was designed to prepare multilayered 1060Al/Al–Al2O3 composites with improved ductility. Microstructural evolution during processing was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). The deposited Al–Al2O3 complex layer was well bonded to the 1060Al matrix, and during ARB processing, the deposited layers were highly squeezed to eliminate voids, Al2O3 particles were split to reduced size and dispersed to a homogeneous distribution within the deposited layers. The tensile test results revealed that the best combination of strength and ductility was achieved in the sample with optimized 3-pass ARB processing, with an increase of ∼41.66% in ultimate tensile strength (153 MPa) and an increase of ∼95.73% in tensile elongation (7.34%) compared to the initial As-Annealed sample. Fracture behavior of the prepared composite was also analyzed. The analysis of microstructural features provided insight into the underlying mechanisms explaining the high strength and great ductility.

Cu/Ti laminated sheets with heterogeneous Ti layers are successfully fabricated by accumulative roll bonding (ARB). The microstructure during processing is characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). During the deformation of the constituent metals, the hard Ti layers neck preferentially but with a continuous layered structure. Upon four ARB cycles, there are five Ti layers with different microstructure states and grain sizes (from 1.3 to 0.5 μm) in the ARB4 sample. Tensile test of ARB4 sample indicates excellent comprehensive mechanical properties, compared with pure Cu and pure Ti, it has higher ultimate tensile strength (508 MPa), and the elongation (9.2%). In the result of loading–unloading–reloading test, there is a strain gradient during the tensile process due to heterogeneous existence of Ti layers, which produces a multilevel hetero‐deformation‐induced (HDI) stress strengthening and improves the coordinated deformation ability of the sample. Second, layered structure and interface with alternate strong and weak bonding can effectively hinder the propagation of cracks to outline higher strength with improved ductility. This structural design helps to prepare laminated materials sheet with excellent comprehensive mechanical properties through the ARB process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high production efficiency, energy-saving characteristics, and universal applicability of accumulative roll bonding (ARB) in the field of commercial aluminum sheets fabrication are well recognized. However, microstructure characterization driven by processing parameters still needs optimization. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of cyclic preheating parameters on the microstructure of commercial purity aluminum sheets processed by six cycles of ARB. Specifically, a series of cyclic preheating conditions set as A: 523 K-1200 s, B: 573 K-300 s, and C: 573 K-1200 s was repeatedly applied, and differences among these three sample groups in microstructure and mechanical properties were discussed by comparing their scanning electron microscopic (SEM) pictures, orientation image maps (OIMs), Vickers hardness, and tensile strength. It was found that B: 573 K-300 s was the critical condition for sheets with both stable bonding state and ultrafine grains (UFGs). This study provides a reference for selecting cyclic preheating and reveals microstructural characteristics of ARB processed commercial-purity aluminum sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine-grained Cu/Al/Ag composites were processed by an accumulative roll bonding (ARB) technique from pure copper and aluminum sheets and a silver powder. The Al content was fixed to 11 wt.% while the silver concentration was 1, 2, or 3 in wt.%. The ARB-processed samples were heat treated at different temperatures between 750 and 1050 °C for 60 min and then quenched to room temperature (RT) for producing Cu–Al–Ag alloys. The effect of the addition of different Ag contents and various heat treatment temperatures on the structural evolution was investigated. The ARB-processed samples were composed of Cu and Al layers with high dislocation density and fine grain size (a few microns). During heat treatment of the ARB-processed samples, new intermetallic phases formed. For the lowest Ag content (1 wt.%), the main phase was a brittle simple cubic Al4Cu9, while for higher Ag concentrations (2 and 3 wt.%), the quenched samples contain mainly an orthorhombic β1-AlCu3 martensite phase. The martensite phase consisted of very fine lamellas with a thickness of one micron or less. The heat treatment increased the microhardness and the strength of the samples at RT due to the formation of a fine-grained hard martensite phase. For 2 and 3% Ag, the highest martensite phase content was achieved at 850 and 950 °C, respectively. The annealed and quenched samples exhibited good shape memory behavior at RT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article concerns the effect of strain accumulation during low-cycle fatigue on the post-fatigue tensile behavior of metal matrix composites (MMCs) with identical layers of aluminum reinforced by Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles produced via the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) technique. Work-hardening behavior, deduced from ratcheting curves, was evaluated by the post-fatigue tensile test. The key finding in the mechanical properties of homogeneous nanocomposite in terms of reinforcement distribution, evolving due to microstructural evolution during the ARB process, is that accumulation of ratcheting strain decreases, and fatigue and post-fatigue tensile behavior significantly increases. The rupture mechanism, analyzed by scanning electron microscope, revealed that deep hemispherical-shaped dimples, a well-known feature of ductile rupture, were changed to elongated shallow shear dimples by the impact of microstructural evolution due to imposed 1000 cycles of ratcheting test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined how various annealing methods affect the structure and characteristics of Al/Zn layered composite plates. Four distinct composite plates underwent annealing at temperatures of 160 °C, 200 °C, and 240 °C for durations ranging from 0.5 h, 1 h, 1.5 h, and 2 h. Changes in grain structure, interface appearance, and thickness of the interface diffusion layer were analyzed using metallographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Tensile and microhardness tests were performed under different annealing conditions and cycling durations. Results showed that as annealing time increased, tensile strength initially rose before declining, while elongation remained consistently high. The optimal balance between strength and ductility was observed at 200 °C for 1.5 h of annealing across all plate types. Before annealing, Al displayed a fractured ultrafine crystalline structure, while Zn's texture underwent changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, novel composite strips based on 2017A-T4 aluminium alloy (Al-Cu-Mg) produced by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) were developed. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the ultrafine-grained sheets under quasistatic and dynamic loadings were investigated. The initial microstructure characterization with an Optical Microscope and a Scanning Electron Microscope indicated that the ARBed sheets formed a compact material with the homogeneous and identical thickness for the individual bonded layers. Besides, the presence of precipitates was identified in all the processed strips with diverse sizes, quantities and distribution. Moreover, from Electron Back Scatter Diffraction, the microstructure was noticeably refined with increasing theARBcycles to reach 1.7 mof the grain size at the fifth cycle. The microhardness measurement and the tensile test were carried out for both natural ageing and ARBed specimens. Accordingly, the tensile stress acts on the individual layers rather than the entire sample that conduct to a reduction in the overall properties for the ARBed strips. Furthermore, a stabilization in the mechanical properties for the three first ARB cycles was noted, whereas, the domination of the dynamic recrystallization was responsible for a significant drop after the fourth cycle which is considered as the transition state. The characteristics of the compression deformation were examined under dynamic and quasi-static loadings conditions by using the Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar system and the universal testing machine, respectively. The strain hardening behaviour was investigated using the Hollomon analysis. It was found that the thermal softening played a crucial role when compared to the strain hardening for all the studied strips. Moreover, the strain rate under the dynamic loading has a minor effect on the stress flow of the ARBed sheets compared to the as-received material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine-grained Cu/Al/Ag composites were processed by an accumulative roll bonding (ARB) technique from pure copper and aluminum sheets and a silver powder. The Al content was fixed to 11 wt.% while the silver concentration was 1, 2, or 3 in wt.%. The ARB-processed samples were heat treated at different temperatures between 750 and 1050 °C for 60 min and then quenched to room temperature (RT) for producing Cu–Al–Ag alloys. The effect of the addition of different Ag contents and various heat treatment temperatures on the structural evolution was investigated. The ARB-processed samples were composed of Cu and Al layers with high dislocation density and fine grain size (a few microns). During heat treatment of the ARB-processed samples, new intermetallic phases formed. For the lowest Ag content (1 wt.%), the main phase was a brittle simple cubic Al4Cu9, while for higher Ag concentrations (2 and 3 wt.%), the quenched samples contain mainly an orthorhombic β1-AlCu3 martensite phase. The martensite phase consisted of very fine lamellas with a thickness of one micron or less. The heat treatment increased the microhardness and the strength of the samples at RT due to the formation of a fine-grained hard martensite phase. For 2 and 3% Ag, the highest martensite phase content was achieved at 850 and 950 °C, respectively. The annealed and quenched samples exhibited good shape memory behavior at RT.

In the present work, nano/ultrafine structured Al/Brass composite was produced by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) up to eight cycles. The evolution of grain refinement and deformation texture and their effect on the mechanical properties were investigated. It was observed that by increasing the ARB cycles, due to the difference in flow properties of the metal constituents, brass layers necked, fractured and distributed in aluminum matrix. After eight cycles, a composite was produced with almost homogeneous distribution of brass fragments in aluminum matrix. Microstructural characterization by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) revealed the formation of bimodal structure consisting of equiaxied grains with an average size of ~120 nm and elongated grains after eight cycles, which was attributed to the occurrence of redundant shear and recrystallization. The crystallographic texture results indicated that the major texture components in the aluminum matrix were Brass {011}, S {123}, Goss {011} and Rotated Goss {011}. Moreover, it was concluded that Goss {011} and Rotated Goss {011} components appeared for high number of ARB cycles due to the adiabatic heat during ARB processing. The tensile strength of Al/Brass composite reached 330 MPa, which was 4.23 times and 1.83 times higher than those of annealed aluminum and monolithic aluminum, respectively. Finally, fracture surfaces of samples were studied, using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), to reveal the failure mechanism.

Product miniaturisation and functional integration are currently global trends to save weight, space, materials and costs. This leads to an increasing demand for metallic micro components. Thus, the development of appropriate production technologies is in the focus of current research activities. Due to its efficiency, accuracy and short cycle times, microforming at room temperature offers the potential to meet the steadily increasing demand. During microforming, size effects occur which negatively affect the part quality, process stability, tool life and handling. Within this contribution, a multi-stage bulk microforming process from sheet metal is investigated for the materials Cu-OFE and AA6014 with regard to the basic feasibility and the occurrence of size effects. The results reveal that the process chain is basically suitable to produce metallic micro parts with a high repeatability. Size effects are identified during the process. Since several studies postulate that size effects can be minimised by scaling down the metallic grain structure, the grain size of the aluminium material AA6014-W is scaled down to less than one micrometre by using an accumulative roll bonding process (ARB). Subsequently, the effects of the ultrafine grain (UFG) structure on the forming process are analysed. It could be shown that a strengthened material state increases the material utilization. Furthermore, too soft materials can cause damage on the part during ejection. The occurring size effects cannot be eliminated by reducing the grain size.

Composite strips based on an Al-Li-Cu-Mg-Zr alloy reinforced with titanium–carbide (TiC) microparticles were manufactured through the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process. The microstructure, mechanical and thermal conductivity properties of the processed composites have been experimentally investigated and compared with the as-hot-rolled and un-reinforced states. The microstructure of the reinforced sheets shows the excellent reinforcement's dispersion after the second ARB cycle. In addition, the obtained results indicate that the overall properties of the ARBed strips are enhanced by increasing the TiC content up to 2 wt.%. The processed sheets reinforced with 2 wt.% TiC after two ARB cycles present the superior comprehensive combination of the grain refining, good bonding and proper particle dispersions to reach the outstanding tensile, bending and specific strengths, appropriate tensile elongation and thermal conductivity. Herein, the tensile and bending strengths reach 380.79 and 623.69 MPa, respectively, which are considerably higher than 260.14 and 438.35 MPa, 322.34 and 528.67 MPa of the as-hot-rolled and the un-reinforced sheets after the same cycle, respectively. Moreover, the fracture morphologies of the processed strips exhibit a ductile-shear mixed fracture responding to good elongations of the specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study adopted a quantitative approach to investigating the mechanical properties, and their relationship to the microstructural features, of precipitation-strengthened 6061 aluminum alloy processed through accumulative roll bonding (ARB) and aging heat treatment. To serve this purpose, the contributions of different strengthening mechanisms including grain refinement, precipitation, dislocation and solid-solution strengthening to the yield strength of five-cycle ARB samples processed under pre-aged (ARBed) and aged (ARBed+Aged) conditions were examined and compared. Microstructural characterizations were performed on the samples through the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Also, the mechanical properties of the samples were investigated through the tensile test. The obtained results showed that an equiaxed ultrafine grain structure with nano-sized precipitates was created in the both ARBed and ARBed+Aged samples. The grain refinement was the predominant strengthening mechanism which was estimated to contribute 151 and 226 MPa to the ARBed and ARBed+Aged samples, respectively, while the dislocation and Orowan strengthening mechanisms were ranked second with regard to their contributions to the ARBed and ARBed+Aged samples, respectively. The overall yield strength, calculated through the root mean square summation method, was found to be in good agreement with the experimentally determined yield strength. It was also found that the presence of non-shearable precipitates, which interfered with the movement of the dislocations, would be effective for the simultaneous improvement of the strength and ductility of the ARBed+Agedsample .

The interface evolution of Ti/Ni multi-layered composites produced by accumulative roll bonding after heat treatment was investigated in this study. The influence of heat treatment temperature on the microstructure and chemical composition of the Ti/Ni interfaces were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscopy system (EDS) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Phase composition and transition behavior of interfaces of the Ti/Ni multi-layered samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Only from the viewpoint of ΔG, ignoring the impact of other factors, the formation sequence of Ti–Ni IMCs is TiNi 3 →Ti 2 Ni→TiNi at the beginning of the diffusion reaction. With temperature increases, the microstructure of the composite is a mixture structure with alternating TiNi and Ti 2 Ni layers and the boundary morphology of each diffusion sub-layer transforming from an initial smooth and clear boundary, to the flocculent structure of the TiNi and Ti 2 Ni transition layer. The DSC results revealed a good martensitic and reverse transformation behavior from B2 to B19' of Ms at around 64 °C. With temperature increases, the austenite transformation temperature (T A) slowly shifts to high temperature and the change of martensite transformation temperature (T M) is not obvious. The phase transition hysteresis (A p -M p) from 5.9 °C of the 550 °C × 10 h heat treatment sample increases to 33 °C of the 770 °C × 10 h sample. • Ti/Ni multi-layer composites of Ti rich have been successfully fabricated by ARB. • Microstructure of Ti/Ni composites from layer changed to TiNi and Ti 2 Ni hybrid. • A martensitic transformation behavior from B2 to B19' appeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work examines the effect of grain refinement via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) on the homogeneity of microstructure and hardness through the thickness of commercially pure aluminum AA1100 sheets. The use of 7 cycles of ARB was shown to produce homogeneous ultrafine-grained microstructure, reducing the grain size to 0.46 and 1.03 µm in normal direction and rolling direction, respectively. Examination by electron backscattered diffraction indicates that continuous dynamic recrystallization was the main mechanism for the formation of submicron equiaxed grains bounded with high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs). The fraction of HAGBs increased gradually reaching a maximum of 71.6% after 7 cycles. Through-thickness hardness measurements using Vickers and nanoindentation tests show an increase from 43.5 Hv (0.85 GPa) for as-received sample to 63 Hv (1.1 GPa) after 7 cycles. The heterogeneity in hardness through the thickness of the as-received material was shown to restrain the evolution of uniform hardness across the sheet thickness with increasing ARB cycles. Tensile tests showed that the tensile strength is increased to 250 MPa, which is about 2 times its initial value. Owing to the high stacking fault energy of AA1100, strong dynamic recovery occurred with increasing ARB strain which was balanced with the strain hardening property of the material. This resulted in plastic instability at small strains and thus early necking during the tensile test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, an accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process is exploited to produce high-strength, fine dispersed and uniform distribution of Al-5vol.%SiC nanocomposite. The microstructure illustrates and validates a good distribution of SiC reinforced in the Al 1050 matrix. It is observed that, an increasing of ARB passes tends to decrease and refine the size of SiC particle to nanoscale. It is concluded from tensile test that, as number of passes increases, strengths of Al ARBed and composite samples are improved. However, their ductility decreases at initial ARB pass and then increased. The Al-SiC tensile strength of nanocomposite sample is greater 5 times than the annealed Al 1050 used as the original raw material. The strengthening of composite sample occurs due to grain refinement, uniformity, reinforcing role of particles, strain work hardening, and bonding quality. From hardness test, after the initial pass, the hardness improved quickly, then dwindled and finally saturated by further rolling. Experimental data is exploited to derive governing equations describe the effect of the number of ARB passes on the tensile strength and elongation of manufactured nanocomposite samples. It is found that, the tensile strength and elongation can be described as an exponential function that depends on the number of passes. Numerical results from these equation are more consistent with experimental investigation. Highlights • ARB technique is used to produce highly uniform Al-SiC nanocomposites. • The tensile strength and elongation can be described by exponential functions, those depend on the number of ARB passes. • Tensile strength and microhardness became 4 and 3 times larger than Al. • Grain refinement, dislocation strengthening are the main strengthening mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Slightly increased monotonic strength but clearly enhanced ductility of the aluminum/steel composite. • Significant enhanced fatigue lives of the aluminum/steel composite at low and high stress amplitudes. • Pronounced crack branching at the aluminum/steel material interface at higher stress amplitudes. • Effective load transfer from the outer aluminum layer into the inner steel layers at low stress amplitudes. Abstract The accumulative roll bonding process allows to produce multilayered composites in which substantially dissimilar metals, both in terms of Young's modulus as well as mechanical strength, can be brought together. For the optimization of such laminated metal composites a fundamental understanding of the microstructural interactions and deformation processes at the internal material interfaces is necessary. The influence of a gradient in hardness and Young's modulus in ultrafine-grained laminated metal composites on the monotonic and cyclic mechanical properties is investigated in this paper. Special attention is put on aluminum/steel composites, as a high gradient in hardness and Young's modulus is present at the layer interfaces. The mechanical properties are determined in monotonic and cyclic three-point bending tests. By scanning electron microscopy, the influence of the meso- and microstructure on the fatigue properties is intensively studied. Furthermore, the internal stresses during elastic straining are calculated using finite element simulations. The results are that for the aluminum/steel composites the monotonic and cyclic properties are drastically increased compared to aluminum mono-material sheets, as well as to composites based on two different aluminum alloys, in which only a gradient in hardness at the material interface exists and the gradient in elastic properties is absent. This is related to a pronounced crack deviation at the material interface as well as to an effective load transfer in the composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulative roll bonding (ARB) imposes severe plastic strain on materials without changing the specimen dimensions. ARB process is mostly appropriate for practical applications because it can be performed readily by the conventional rolling process. An Al-2wt%Cu alloy was subjected to ARB process up to a strain of 4.8. Stacking of materials and conventional roll-bonding are repeated in the process. In this study, corrosion behavior of an Al-2wt%Cu alloy fabricated by ARB process was studied in 3.5%wtNaCl solution using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The morphology of structures was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Also, the electrochemical experiments showed that corrosion resistance of samples decreases with increasing the number of ARB cycles due to the formation of oxide layer on defects and energetic regions such as grain boundaries with low/high angle and high density dislocations accumulated in sub-grains. According to the nyquist curves, by continuing the process, the diameters of semicircles decreased and the corrosion resistance and the polarization resistance subsequently decreased. After 6-cycle ARB, link up of small pits and micro crack were seen. Also, with increasing the number of the ARB cycles, the mean grain size of specimens decreased and it reached to 650 nm after 6 cycles of ARB process.

In this study, the Al/Al2O3-SiC hybrid composite was produced by accumulative roll bonding (ARB). In the first and the second cycles, the particles were uniformly poured between the Al strips during each ARB cycle. In the subsequent cycles, ARB was repeated up to six cycles without adding the particles between the layers. After the total eight cycles, the particles were distributed uniformly without agglomeration in the Al matrix. The corrosion behavior of the hybrid composite was investigated and compared with that of the annealed and ARB processed Al. The corrosion tests were conducted by the potentiodynamic and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests in 3.5 wt-% NaCl solution. The anodic potential of the pure Al processed by ARB was more positive than that of the annealed Al while its corrosion current density was higher. The corrosion potential of the hybrid composite was somewhere between the annealed Al and ARB processed Al. The hybrid composite exhibited the lowest current density and the highest charge transfer resistance. The increased corrosion resistance of the hybrid composite was attributed to the inert character of the Al2O3 and SiC particles because these particles could decrease the active sites of the material surface and impeding the corrosive attacks.

In this article, for the first time, the forming limit diagram (FLD) and mechanical properties of aluminum foil samples processed by the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process have been studied experimentally. For this purpose, thin aluminum foils with a thickness of 200 microns have been produced using ARB in five passes at ambient temperature. By rising the number of ARB passes, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) enhanced drastically, and at the end pass of ARB, it reached 393 MPa, about 5.9 times larger than the initial sample. Also, during the ARB process, the applied strain increased, and the thickness of the layers decreased, and the bonding quality between layers improved. SEM images of tensile fracture surface after five cycles showed the mechanism of fracture retained ductile. However, due to the unevenly applied strain, the dimples were drawn in different directions, and their depth and number were reduced relative to the raw material. The area under the FLDs, a criterion of formability, declined sharply after the first pass and then increased at a low rate until the final pass. The trend of similar changes of formability in the tensile (elongation) and Nakazima tests (FLDs) was reported. Responsibility for all mechanical properties and ductility changes is related to the ARB process’s nature and the two dominant mechanisms of strain hardening and grain refinement.

Austenitic stainless steels X4CrNi18-12 and X8CrMnNi19-6-3 were processed by accumulative roll bonding (ARB). Both materials show an extremely high yield strength of 1.25 GPa accompanied by a satisfactory elongation to failure of up to 14% and a positive strain rate sensitivity after two ARB cycles. The strain-hardening rate of the austenitic steels reveals a stabilization of the stress-strain behavior during tensile testing. Especially for X8CrMnNi19-6-3, which has an elevated manganese content of 6.7 wt.%, necking is prevented up to comparatively high plastic strains. Microstructural investigations showed that the microstructure is separated into ultrafine-grained channel like areas and relatively larger grains where pronounced nano-twinning and martensite formation is observed.

In this study, Al/Steel multilayer composite was produced by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process using Al-1100 and St-12 strips. Microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of the composite were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile test, Vickers microhardness tests, cyclic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. After one ARB cycle (2 roll-bonding cycles), the multilayer composite of 4 layers of Al and 2 layers of steel was produced. The tensile strength of the Al/steel multilayer composite reached 390.57 MPa after the first ARB cycle, which was 1.29 times larger than that of the starting steel while composite density was almost half the density of the steel. Corrosion behavior of the composite revealed a considerable improvement in the main electrochemical parameters, as a result of enhancing influence of cold rolling. The results indicated that strength and corrosion resistance of Al/steel composite generally decreases and elongation increases after annealing.

The ultrafine grain structure is very difficult to fabricate by severe plastic deformation (SPD) for metals with poor formability. In this paper, a fabrication technology of ultrafine structured dissimilar laminated metal composite sheets (LMCS) was developed for poor plastic metals which have low elongation by hot accumulative roll bonding (ARB) in conjunction with cold rolling. The hot ARBed 1100/7075 LMCS was cold rolled at room temperature after recrystallization annealing treatment. An ultrafine structured dissimilar LMCS was obtained without undergoing severe cold rolled deformation. The mechanical properties were enhanced and optimized by using heat treatment technology. The accelerated refining mechanism of grain was revealed by microstructure characterization of the composite sheet. The enhanced strength was mainly derived from the fine layers, refined grains, increased dislocation accumulation, and abundant dispersoids. The results of the research are helpful in improving the mechanical properties of dissimilar LMCS and optimizing the preparation technology.

The effect of annealing condition on the microstructure evolution, together with mechanical properties of Fe-28.5Ni steel processed by one and six cycles of accumulative roll bonding (ARB), was explored. The evolution of microstructure was studied by means of Electron Backscattered Diffraction method. The ARB-processed specimens were annealed for 30 minutes between 500°C and 600°C, and the effect of these annealing processes was elaborated. Results showed a significantly reduced martensite phase during ARB process cycles. Moreover, a refined and stabilised ultrafine structure was obtained in 6-cycle ARB-processed specimen. Results also show that by annealing the 1-cycle specimen at 550°C, no significant microstructural change and mechanical properties variation are identified. As such, no significant microstructural change and mechanical properties variation were notified for annealing of 6-cycle ARB-processed specimen at 500°C. However, annealing at 600°C in both conditions led to a complete recrystallisation of the deformed structure. Annealing at 550°C in 6-cycle ARB-processed specimen showed partial recrystallisation as well as an abnormal grain growth characteristic. The abnormal grain growth was seen by annealing of 1-cycle ARB-processed specimen at 600°C. The changing features of dislocations were discussed in these specimens in terms of changing the dynamics of low- and high-angle grain boundaries. Tensile test results also showed a significant increase in the yield/ultimate tensile strengths with the application of ARB cycles. Although ARB process led to a rapid reduction of total elongation, full restoration during high-temperature annealing returned this value back to the initial, non-deformed, condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High damping capacity and low density M2052/Al composites were successfully fabricated using the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) method, by taking advantages of high damping capacity for M2052 alloy (Mn-20Cu-5Ni-2Fe, at%) particles and excellent mechanical properties and low density for Al matrix. The 15 wt% M2052 particles were uniformly dispersed in Al-matrix after 10 ARB process cycles. M2052/Al composites have a low density of 2.9 g/cm 3 , which is just a little higher than that of Al. After ARB process and a subsequent hydrogen annealing, the M2052/Al composites exhibit both high room temperature damping capacity and good mechanical properties: the highest damping capacity is 0.01 at 270 K, 5 times that of pure Al at the comparative temperature; the ultimate tensile strength is about 70 MPa (about 35% higher than that of pure Al), and the total elongation reaches 24%. The simultaneous enhancements on damping capacity and tensile strength of the M2052/Al composites can be attributed to the high damping capacity and the dispersion strengthening of M2052 phase, as well as the good bonding between the M2052 particles and Al matrix resulted from the ARB technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of embedding Cu-graphene hybrid powder, namely “graphene nano-sheet Cu” (GNS-Cu) powder, into In-40 vol.% Cu solder alloy on the electrical and mechanical properties of In-Cu solder is investigated. GNS-Cu hybrid powders were prepared by mixing reduced graphene oxide powders and CuSO4·5H2O, followed by reduction of the mixture with hydrazine. Subsequently, In-Cu solders with GNS-Cu powders were prepared using a 2-step process, comprising liquid phase sintering (LPS) of In and Cu powders followed by accumulative roll bonding (ARB). During ARB, the GNS-Cu powders were embedded as distinct layers into In-Cu composite solders. Electrical conductivity of the GNS-Cu embedded solders increased by > 20% as compared to pure In-Cu solders processed through the same combination of LPS-ARB steps. The yield strength of In-Cu solder increased by only 10% with the addition of GNS-Cu powders and thus retained the moderate strength often associated with pure In-Cu composite solders. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of GNS-Cu-embedded solders was estimated theoretically to increase by > 60%. These promising findings suggest that GNS-Cu-embedded In-Cu solders can be suitable for next-generation metallic thermal interface material and package-level interconnect applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behavior of the Al-0.2 wt.% Sc alloy fabricated by the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution was studied using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization techniques. The effect of the microstructural parameters, such as dislocation density, texture, grain boundary, and lattice strain, on the corrosion behavior was also investigated in this study. The results demonstrated that the ARB process can significantly improve the corrosion resistance and modify the corrosion potential to attain higher positive potentials. In addition, the pitting corrosion changed into the lateral spreading of the pits at the seventh and tenth cycles of the ARB process with average grain size of 410 and 370 nm, respectively. The change in the fraction of the high-angle grain boundary during the ARB process is the most important parameter regarding the variation in corrosion type. The average grain size of 410 nm in seventh cycle, as the optimum average grain size, demonstrated the highest corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solid state method has been found for manufacturing of lead-silver composites for use as anodes in electrowinning production. Mechanical properties and microstructure of composite were characterized via peeling, tensile and microhardness tests, and scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and fractography. Based on the peeling test results, maximum bond strength was achieved in the presence of 0.125 wt% of Ag (1.8 N/mm). Best mechanical properties were achieved in the Pb-0.5 wt% Ag composite after 10 ARB cycles by the enhanced tensile strength rising up to 50%, yield strength up to 170%, shear strength up to 63% and hardness up to 2.6 times higher, and the strain decreasing to 68% lower. These advanced properties led to higher stiffness and considerable enhancements in dimensional stability of the anodes and they improved creep characteristics. The advanced properties of the processed Pb-Ag composite anodes could be introduced as certification for slower anode failure, upkeep, surcharge and capital expenditure of industries with essential lead anode requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]