The hardening or softening behavior of materials
is one of the major factors affecting the deformation
homogeneity in work-pieces during processing by equal
channel angular pressing. In the present study, the difference
between plastic flow behavior and deformation
homogeneity of strain hardening and strain softening
materials were investigated with the aid of finite element
simulation. Results showed that localization of plastic
strain occurred in the strain softening materials and fluctuations
were observed in the strain distribution along
work-piece. In strain hardening materials, a more uniform
distribution of plastic strain was obtained compared to
strain softening material.