This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of severe plastic deformation (SPD) by extrusion combined with reversible torsion (KoBo) method on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-5Cu and Al-25Cu alloys. The extrusion combined with reversible torsion was carried out using reduction coefficient of λ = 30 and λ = 98. In this work, the microstructure was characterized by light microscopy (LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Compression test and tensile test were performed for deformed alloys. The binary Al-5Cu and Al-25Cu alloys consist of the face cantered cubic (FCC) α phase in the form of dendrites and tetragonal (C16) θ-Al2Cu intermetallic phase observed in interdentritic regions. The increase of Cu content leads to increase of interdentritic regions. The microstructure of the alloys is refined after applying KoB deformation with λ = 30 and λ = 98. Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of Al-5Cu alloy after KoBo deformation with λ = 30 and λ = 98 reached about 200 MPa. UTS for samples of Al-25Cu with λ = 30 and λ = 98 increased compared to Al-5Cu alloy and exceed 320 MPa and 270 MPa respectively. All samples showed increase of plasticity with increase of reduction coefficient. Independently of reduction coefficient, the compressive strain of Al-5Cu alloys is about 60%. The Al-25Cu alloy with λ = 98 showed the value of compressive strain exceed 60%, although for this same alloy but with λ = 30, the compressive strain is only 35%.

In this article the structural and mechanical properties of grain refinement of Cu-Sn alloys with tin content of 10%, 15% and 20% using the KOBO method have been presented. The direct extrusion by KOBO (name from the combination of the first two letters of the names of its inventors – A. Korbel and W. Bochniak) method employs, during the course of the whole process, a phenomenon of permanent change of strain travel, realized by a periodical, two-sided, plastic metal torsion. Moreover the aim of this work was to study corrosion resistance. The microstructure investigations were performed using an optical microscope Olimpus GX71, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The mechanical properties were determined with INSTRON 4505/5500 machine. Corrosion tests were performed using «Autolab» set – potentiostat/galvanostat from EcoChemie B.V. with GPES software ver. 4.9. The obtained results showed possibility of KOBO deformation of Cu-Sn casting alloys. KOBO processing contributed to the refinement of grains and improved mechanical properties of the alloys. The addition of tin significantly improved the hardness. Meanwhile, with the increase of tin content the tensile strength and yield strength of alloys decrease gradually. Ductility is controlled by eutectoid composition and especially δ phase, because they initiate nucleation of void at the particle/matrix interface. No significant differences in the corrosion resistance between cast and KOBO processed materials were found.