Numerical Investigation of Plastic Strain Homogeneity during Equal-Channel Angular Pressing of a Cu-Zr Alloy

A three-dimensional finite element method (3D FEM) simulation was carried out using ABAQUS/Explicit software to simulate multi-pass processing by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) of a circular cross-sectional workpiece of a Cu-Zr alloy. The effective plastic strain distribution, the strain homogeneity and the occurrence of a steady-state zone in the workpiece were investigated during ECAP processing for up to eight passes. The simulation results show that a strain inhomogeneity was developed in ECAP after one pass due to the formation of a corner gap in the outer corner of the die. The calculations show that the average effective plastic strain and the degree of homogeneity both increase with the number of ECAP passes. Based on the coefficient of variance, a steady-state zone was identified in the middle section of the ECAP workpiece, and this was numerically evaluated as extending over a length of approximately 40 mm along the longitudinal axis for the Cu-Zr alloy.