Synchrotron X-ray microbeam diffraction measurements of full elastic long range internal strain and stress tensors in commercial-purity aluminum processed by multiple passes of equal-channel angular pressing

Synchrotron X-ray microbeam diffraction was used to measure the full elastic long range internal strain and stress tensors of low dislocation density regions within the submicrometer grain/subgrain structure of equal-channel angular pressed (ECAP) aluminum alloy AA1050 after 1, 2, and 8 passes using route B_C. This is the first time that full tensors were measured in plastically deformed metals at this length scale. The maximum (most tensile or least compressive) principal elastic strain directions for the unloaded 1 pass sample for the grain/subgrain interiors align well with the pressing direction, and are more random for the 2 and 8 pass samples. The measurements reported here indicate that the local stresses and strains become increasingly isotropic (homogenized) with increasing ECAP passes using route B_C. The average maximum (in magnitude) LRISs are −0.43 σ_a for 1 pass, −0.44 σ_a for 2 pass, and 0.14 σ_a for the 8 pass sample. These LRISs are larger than those reported previously because those earlier measurements were unable to measure the full stress tensor. Significantly, the measured stresses are inconsistent with the two-component composite model.