Microstructure, Texture and Mechanical Properties of Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Zr Alloy during Repetitive Upsetting-Extrusion after Heat Treatment

Abstract

Severe plastic deformation can be produced by repetitive upsetting-extrusion process. Using the repetitive upsetting-extrusion (RUE) process at decreasing temperature, the Mg-12.0Gd-4.5Y-2.0Zn-0.4Zr (wt %) alloy was deformed by different RUE passes and then heat treated. The microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of the alloy were compared and analyzed. The results demonstrate that with the increase of deformation passes, the coarse grains of the alloy decreased, the dynamic recrystallization fraction increased, and the dynamic recrystallized grains phagocytized the original grains. This can promote the continuous refinement of the grains and the microstructure uniformity. The maximum texture intensity of the (0001) basal plane decreased significantly with the increase of processing passes and the dispersion degree of pole figure increased. The orientation of dynamic recrystallized grains was randomly distributed to weaken texture. Due to the refinement of microstructure and the weakening of texture, the tensile strength and yield strength of the alloy obviously increased at room temperature. The mechanical properties of the alloy reached the highest after 3 passes and heat treatment.