Enhancing the Hardness of Al 6063 Alloy Via Equal Channel Angular Extrusion Process

Abstract Hardness of a material is highly important in most architectural and engineering applications, especially considering its direct relationship with strength. As a result of this, methods of enhancing the hardness properties of materials, such as Al 6063 alloy, will of a great benefit to researchers, engineers, and architects. This study presents the effect of Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) in enhancing the hardness of Al 6063 Alloys. ECAE is known to develop ultrafine-grained materials, which tend to be characterised by better hardness. Sets of samples made of Al 6063 were obtained, fabricated into the sizes of ECAE specimen, and grouped into seven parts. A part was taken as the control while the other six parts were went through a Sever Plastic Deformation (SPD) Process using the ECAE method. A part was extruded once, another twice, another 4 times, another 5 times and another 6 times. The microhardness values were obtained and reported, likewise, the calculated brinell hardness values were reported. From the results, it was concluded that ECAE increases the hardness of Al 6063 to an extent.