This paper discusses tensile testing of small samples of nanocrystalline Al6061-T6 alloy obtained from an unusual application of machining as a severe plastic deformation process. Ultrafine grained (UFG) shavings obtained from plane-strain cutting show higher hardness than the bulk material in agreement with existing literature. Application of restricted contact tools and extrusion-machining was explored to obtain shavings with minimum curvature to aid in tensile test specimen preparation. A novel method to prepare small tensile test specimens from these shavings has been described. During the tensile testing of UFG material, strains were measured using digital image correlation of natural speckles on the specimen. Specimens made from the UFG material had higher tensile strength and yield stress than the bulk, while ductility was lower. Lower values of Young's modulus were observed during the tensile testing of small specimens made from UFG as well as bulk material.

Al6061 and AZ31 plates were processed using accumulative roll bonding (ARB) method up to two passes to produce laminated composites. The sandwich stacks of Al6061/AZ31/Al6061 were held at 450 °C for 10 min in a cubical furnace and rolled together with reduction of 50% in one pass. The microstructural investigations were done using optical and scanning electron microscopes. The structures of the interface, mechanical and drop impact properties of the laminated composites after the first and second passes were investigated and compared with Al6061 and AZ31 alloy plates. It was found that Al6061 improved the elongation to failure property of AZ31 after the first pass of ARB process and the drop impact properties of AZ31 after the first and second passes. However, elongation to failure magnitude with the uniaxial tensile loading decreased with increase in the number of passes due to the formation of brittle intermetallic between the Al6061/AZ31 nonuniform interfaces.