An Interchangeable Exit Channel Attachment of Severe Plastic Deformation for Automotive Applications

Equal Channel Angular Pressing is proven to produce ultrafine-grained to nano-structured materials and is most advantageous in comparison with most severe plastic deformation processes, due to its multi-pass capability. The channel angle is the most dominant process parameter, depending on which the property of the processed material varies significantly. Hence to exploit the advantage of this process and to fabricate materials with tailor-made properties, it is desirable to have access to a wide range of channel angles. Limitations in existing designs restrict this to one fixed angle per die and a variation of the angle demands an entirely new die. Hence a novel die geometry is proposed, where the exit channel is made detachable from the parent die block, permitting flexibility of channel angle. Such a design cuts down the cost of fabricating a die setup for the desired channel angle by as much as 80%, in comparison with the traditional split die configuration where a whole new die block has to be machined.