Despite the apparent success in pro

Despite the apparent success in producing both high
strength and high strain rate superplasticity in materials
processed by ECAP, it is important to recognize that the
tensile specimens used to establish these mechanical properties
are generally cut from the as-pressed billets with their
gauge lengths lying parallel to the longitudinal or pressing
axes. This means, in effect, that the measured mechanical
properties represent the characteristics associated with the
as-pressed microstructure existing within the central core
regions of the as-pressed billets and the mechanical testing
provides no information on the general degree of microstructural
homogeneity occurring in the cross-sections