Microstructure Evolution during Extrusion-Shear Process of as Cast AZ31 Magnesium Alloy

Abstract

It is widely recognized that subgrain size has significant effect on the strength and ductility of metals. To improve the industrialization of the serve plastic deformations (SPD) technology for magnesium alloys, a new composite extrusion (shortened further as “ES”in this paper) has been employed. The components of ES die have been designed and manufactured and installed to the horizontal extruder for industry. The evolutions of microstructure and texture during the ES process have been studied. The results showed that fine and uniform microstructures can be achieved by Extrusion-Shear (ES) technique and a variety of types of texture can also be found in microstructures, which could weaken the dominant of base texture for (0002). From X-ray diffraction analysis it follows that the (0002) basal plane texture intensity has decreased, and there was found a continuous dynamic recrystallization happening during ES deformation. The research results showed that the ES process can produce a serve plastic deformation and improve the recrystallization of the grain and refine the grains,and weaken the dominant position of the base surface texture.