The feasibility of using the equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) process for the breakdown of cast structures in commercial purity aluminium has been investigated. Billets of an as-cast coarse grained Al (99.7% pure) were subjected to ECAE at 500°C using a die that imparts an equivalent plastic strain of 0.67 per pass. Multiple extrusion passes were performed using two different processing routes: Route I in which the billet orientation was kept constant from pass to pass, and Route II in which the billet was rotated by 180° about its longitudinal axis from one pass to the next resulting alternately in shear in planes oriented at 120° to each other. Processing by Route I through five passes produced elongated grains showing evidence of dynamic recovery. Processing by Route II through five passes however produced largely equiaxed grains with a dynamically recovered substructure due to the intervention of static recrystallization during the reheating to extrusion temperature between passes. Both processing routes produced a dynamically recovered structure with equiaxed subgrains approximately 6μm in size. Sharp deformation textures were not obtained. The relevance of this technique to industrial processing is discussed. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.