Improvement of strength and ductility synergy in a room-temperature stretch-formable Mg-Al-Mn alloy sheet by twin-roll casting and low-temperature annealing

Strength and ductility synergy in an Mg-3mass%Al-Mn(AM30)alloy sheet was successfully improved via twin-roll casting and annealing at low-temperature.An AM30 alloy sheet produced by twin-roll casting,homogenization,hot-rolling,and subsequent annealing at 170℃ for 64 h exhibits a good 0.2%proof stress of 170 MPa and a large elongation to failure of 33.1%along the rolling direction.The sheet also shows in-plane isotropic tensile properties,and the 0.2%proof stress and elongation to failure along the transverse direction are 176 MPa and 35.5%,respectively.Though the sheet produced by direct-chill casting also shows moderate strengths if the annealing condition is same,the direct-chill casting leads to the deteriorated elongation to failure of 23.9%and 30.0%for the rolling and transverse directions,respectively.As well as such excellent tensile properties,a high room-temperature stretch formability with an Index Erichsen value of 8.3 mm could be obtained in the twin-roll cast sheet annealed at 170℃ for 64 h.The annealing at a higher temperature further improves the stretch formability;however,this results in the decrease of the tensile properties.Microstructure characterization reveals that the excellent combination of strengths,ductility,and stretch formability in the twin-roll cast sheet annealed at the low-temperature annealing is mainly attributed to the uniform recrystallized microstructure,fine grain size,and circular distribution of(0001)poles away from the normal direction of the sheet.