Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) was invented in the former Soviet Union by Vladimir Segal in 1977, for which he obtained an Invention Certificate of the USSR, similar to a patent. Researchers in the Texas A&M University's (TAMU) Deformation Processing Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering have been conducting research on the ECAE process since 1992. Dr. V. Segal, was a research associate in the Lab from 1992 to 1995.

ECAE is an innovative process capable of producing uniform plastic deformation in a variety of materials, without causing significant change in geometric shape or cross section. Multiple extrusions of billets by ECAE permits severe plastic deformation in bulk materials. By changing the orientation of the billet between successive extrusions, complex microstructures and textures can be developed. Changing the chosen billet orientation after each pass, five fundamental equal-channel angular extrusion routes are defined and utilized to obtain different textures and microstructures.

Research has concentrated in two areas: (1) development of theoretical and practical knowledge of the mechanics of ECAE (mathematically modeling, etc.) and (2) investigation of the various technological advantages of ECAE. Many advantages were found with ECAE; a variety of microstructures,and equiaxed, laminar, and fibrous textures for many of the materials that were investigated at TAMU. ECAE has also been found to be an excellent method for powder consolidation.