Mechanical Behavior of an Ultrafine/Nano Grained Magnesium Alloy

The application of magnesium alloys is greatly limited because of their relatively low strength and ductility. An effective way to improve the mechanical properties of magnesium alloy is to refine the grains. As the race for better materials performance is never ending, attempts to develop viable techniques for microstructure refinement continue. Further refining of grain size requires, however, application of extreme value of plastic deformation on material. In this work, an AZ31 wrought magnesium alloy was processed by employing multipass accumulative back extrusion process. The obtained microstructure, texture, and room temperature compressive properties were characterized and discussed. The results indicated that grains of 80 nm to 1 μm size were formed during accumulative back extrusion, where the mean grain size of the experimental material was reduced by applying successive ABE passes. The fraction of DRX increased and the mean grain size of the ABEed alloy markedly lowered, as subsequent passes were applied. This helped to explain the higher yield stress govern the occurrence of twinning during compressive loading. Compressive yield and maximum compressive strengths were measured to increase by applying successive extrusion passes, while the strain-to-fracture dropped. The evolution of mechanical properties was explained relying on the grain refinement effect as well as texture change.