Characteristics of aluminum 6061-T6 deformed to large plastic strains by machining

A study has been made of characteristics of precipitation treatable aluminum alloys (6061-T6) deformed to large plastic strains, by analyzing chips created by plane strain (2-D) machining. By varying the geometry of the tool, different levels of strain were imposed in the chip in a single pass of machining. The microstructure of the chips was found to be composed of relatively equi-axed grains with mean size in the range of 70–100 nm. The evolution of the microstructure across the deformation zone has been tracked. The chip micro-hardness values were found to be somewhat greater than that reported for Al 6061-T6 deformed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP).