Prediction of generation of High- and Low-Angle Grain Boundaries (HAGB and LAGB) during severe plastic deformation

It is well known that a balance between the generation of low-angle and high-angle grain boundaries (LABG and HAGB) is achieved in materials undergoing a severe plastic deformation (SPD) process. It is also observed that most annealed materials evolve from a substantial fraction of LAGB at the early deformation steps towards a steady state in which an equilibrium between LAGB and HAGB fractions is attained. In the present work, such a balance is analyzed for different alloys, i.e., Cu, Al, and Fe based. A mathematical expression is proposed for the amount of LAGB and HAGB as a function of the strain impaired which in turn can be used to predict the number of passes (especially for ECAP) or the amount of total deformation for any SPD process necessary to attain a steady microstructure. The model seeks to serve as a first approximation of the mechanical and microstructural properties of ultrafine grain metal materials.