Abstract:
This study is to investigate the crystallite development in nanostructured aluminium
using x-ray line broadening analysis. Nanostructured aluminium was produced by equal channel
angular extrusion at room temperature to a total deformation strain of -1 7. Samples of the extruded
metal were then heat treated at temperatures up to 300°C. High order diffraction peaks were
obtained using Mo radiation and the integral breadth was determined. It was found that as the
annealing temperature increased, the integral breadth ·of the peak reflections decreased. By
establishing the modified Williamson-Hall plots (integral breadth vs contract factor) after
instrumental correction, it was determined that the crystallite size of the metal was maintained -80
nm at 100°C. As the annealing temperature increased to 200°C, the crystallite size increased to -118
nm. With increasing annealing temperature, the hardness of the metal decreased from -60 HV to
-45HV.
