SPD (several plastic deformations) methods make it possible to obtain an ultrafine-grained structure (UFG) in larger volumes of material and thus improve its mechanical properties. The presented work focuses on the structural and mechanical changes of aluminium alloy AlMgSi0.5 (EN AW 6060) during processing by repeated extrusion through the ECAP rectangular channel. After a four-pass extrusion, the samples' microstructures were observed using an optical microscope, where refinement of the material grains was confirmed. Tensile tests determined the extrusion forces and allowed interpretation of the changes in the mechanical properties of the stressed alloy. The grain size was refined from 28.90 μm to 4.63 μm. A significant improvement in the strength of the material (by 45%) and a significant deterioration in ductility (to 60%) immediately after the first extrusion was confirmed. The third pass through the die appeared to be optimal for the chosen deformation path, while after the fourth pass, micro-cracks appeared, significantly reducing the strength of the material. Based on the measurement results, new analytical equations were formulated to predict the magnitude or intensity of the volumetric and shape deformations of the structural grain size and, in particular, the adequate increase in the strength and yield point of the material.

Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Technology Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice Okružní 10 370 01 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Department of Numerical Methods and Computational Modeling Faculty of Industrial Technologies in Púchov Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín Ivana Krasku 491 30 020 01 Púchov Slovakia

Institute of Design and Engineering Technologies Faculty of Engineering Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Tr A Hlinku 2 949 76 Nitra Slovakia

Institute of Electrical Engineering Automation Informatics and Physics Faculty of Engineering Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Tr A Hlinku 2 949 76 Nitra Slovakia

Institute of Geotechnics Slovak Academy of Sciences 040 01 Košice Slovakia

Institute of Materials and Quality engineering Faculty of Materials Metallurgy and Recycling Technical University of Košice Letná 9 042 00 Košice Slovakia

Institute of Nanotechnology Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Hermann von Helmholtz Platz 1 76344 Eggenstein Leopoldshafen Germany

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