Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of mechanical properties and thermal stability of tin alloy processed by equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE)

Abstract In this study, experimental investigation and numerical simulation of the compressive stiffness, effective plastic stress-strain behaviour, the hardness and thermal stability of tin alloy parts subjected to equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) process were investigated. The numerical simulation was carried out using Automatic Dynamic Incremental Non-linear Analysis (ADINA) and the results were compared with the experiment. The as-received and extruded Sn alloy samples were subjected to metallographic examination using scanning electron and optical microscopy. The external fracture that was observed during ECAE did not show at the interior parts on the optical image. The results of compressive and hardness tests showed that stiffness, modulus, and hardness values increased with the number of extrusions. However, the maximum compressive stress and strain also increased marginally after the second ECAE pass. The thermal properties and transformations of the sample were studied with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The effective strain of the samples was simulated and observed to increase with each extrusion pass. The severe plastic deformation brought about by ECAE processing increased dislocation density (work hardening) in the affected parts accounting for an increase in the modulus of the alloy. ECAE processing is, therefore, a potential tool for enhancing the mechanical properties of tin alloy.