By the forcing of a bar of metal through a square tube of constant cro
ss section that contains a sharp corner, simple shear is produced in t
he bar. Repeating the process several times results in a very large am
ount of strain. This paper describes the application of this technique
to processing aluminum alloys for submicrometer grain size, deforming
copper niobium alloy to increase the strength and extruding gamma tit
anium aluminide. The application of this process to materials for spec
ific purposes is also discussed. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1996.