Grain Refinement and Mechanical Properties of Photovoltaic Frame 6063 Al Alloy with an Addition of ECAP-ed Al-5%Ti-1%B Master Alloy

The Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy was subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), aiming to investigate the effects of the ECAP passes and addition amounts of the Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy on the microstructure and mechanical properties of recycled photovoltaic frame aluminum alloys. The results showed that the ECAP-ed Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy exhibited an enhanced grain refinement efficiency compared to the as-cast samples. For the addition of 0.15%Ti with Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy processed by four passes of ECAP, the mean size of α -Al was refined from 300 μm to 70 μm, and the roundness of the grains was reduced from 4.4 to 1.2. Meanwhile, microhardness increased from 40 HV to 55 HV, tensile strength increased from 122 MPa to 152 MPa, and elongation to failure increased from 21% to 26%. The ECAP process enhanced the refinement efficiency of the Al-5%Ti-1%B master alloy, providing a novel approach for enhancing the performance of recycled photovoltaic frame aluminum alloys.