Evaluating the influence of pressure and torsional strain on processing by high-pressure torsion

Tests were conducted on an Al-6061 alloy to evaluate the separate effects of the applied pressure and the torsional straining in processing by high-pressure torsion (HPT). The values of the Vickers microhardness were measured after processing and plotted both linearly across the diameters of the disks and as three-dimensional representations. The measurements show that the applied pressure increases the hardness in the absence of torsional straining. In the presence of a pressure and torsional straining, the hardness values are high at the edges of the disk but lower in the central region. There is a gradual evolution toward a hardness homogeneity with increasing numbers of HPT revolutions. The hardness values at the edges of the disks are reasonably independent of the applied pressure but the extent of this region of high hardness depends upon both the applied pressure and the numbers of turns in the HPT processing.