Activation volume and the role of solute atoms in Al-Mg-Si alloy processed by equal channel angular extrusion

•Al-Mg-Si alloy was processed by ECAE.•TEM and ASTAR show that grain size is reduced to 100 nm.•SRS experiments show that activation volume V is reduced to 70b3.•Constant V is leveled by solute atoms effects.•GBS contribution is clearer after ageing.