Microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ61 magnesium alloy prepared by repetitive upsetting-extrusion

The process of repetitive upsetting-extrusion （RUE） was used to achieve severe plastic deformation （SPD） for an as-cast AZ61 magnesium alloy in temperature range of 285-380 ℃. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-cast and RUE processed AZ61 alloys were investigated. The results indicated that homogeneous fine-grained structure with mean grain size of 3.5 μm was obtained as the accumulated true strain in the axial direction increased to 4.28 after three RUE passes at 285 ℃. The dominant reason of grain refinement was considered the dynamic recrystallization induced by strain localization. It was also found that the microstructural evolution was affected by temperature and accumulated deformation. The mechanical properties of RUE processed AZ61 alloys were significantly improved owing to grain refinement. Furthermore, the relationship between deformation parameters and mechanical properties of AZ61 alloy prepared by RUE processing was revealed by tensile tests carried out at room temperature.

Application of cyclic upsetting-extrusion to semi-solid processing of AZ91D magnesium alloy

The microstructural evolution of AZ91D magnesium alloy prepared by means of the cyclic upsetting-extrusion and partial remelting was investigated. The effects of remelting temperature and holding time on microstructure of semi-solid AZ91D magnesium alloy were studied. Furthermore, tensile properties of thixoextruded AZ91D magnesium alloy components were determined. The results show that the cyclic upsetting-extrusion followed by partial remelting is effective in producing semi-solid AZ91D magnesium alloy for thixofonning. During the partial remelting, with the increase of remelting temperature and holding time, the solid grain size increases and the degree of spheroidization tends to be improved. The tensile mechanical properties of thixoextruded AZ91D magnesium alloy components produced by cyclic upsetting-extrusion and partial remelting are better than those of the same alloy produced by casting.

Grain refinement impact on the mechanical properties and wear behavior of Mg-9Gd-3Y-2Zn-0.5Zr alloy after decreasing temperature reciprocating upsetting-extrusion

Based on the deforming technique of severe plastic deformation(SPD), the grain refinement of a Mg-9Gd-3Y-2Zn-0.5Zr alloy treated with decreasing temperature reciprocating upsetting-extrusion(RUE) and its influence on the mechanical properties and wear behavior of the alloy were studied. The RUE process was carried out for 4 passes in total, starting at 0 ℃ and decreasing by 10 ℃ for each pass. The results showed that as the number of RUE passes increased, the grain refinement effect was obvious, and the second phase in the alloy was evenly distributed. Room temperature tensile properties of the alloy and the deepening of the RUE degree showed a positive correlation trend, which was due to the grain refinement, uniform distribution of the second phase and texture weakening. And the microhardness of the alloy showed that the microhardness of RUE is the largest in 2 passes. The change in microhardness was the result of dynamic competition between the softening effect of DRX and the work hardening effect. In addition, the wear resistance of the alloy showed a positive correlation with the degree of RUE under low load conditions. When the applied load was higher, the wear resistance of the alloy treated with RUE decreased compared to the initial state alloy. This phenomenon was mainly due to the presence of oxidative wear on the surface of the alloy, which could balance the positive contribution of severe plastic deformation to wear resistance to a certain extent.

Effect of Deformation Temperatures on Microstructure of AQ80 Magnesium Alloy under Repeated Upsetting-Extrusion

A new repeated upsetting-extrusion (RUE) process was proposed to improve the microstructure and the mechanical properties of Mg alloys. The effects of deformation temperature on the microstructure and microhardness of RUEed AQ80 Mg alloy were studied. The results showed that Mg alloy is subjected to sufficient corner shear deformation, upsetting deformation, and extrusion deformation, resulting in a large and uniformly distributed effective strain after RUE deformation. The microstructure is refined to an average grain size of 2.1 μm by the continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) mechanism at 250 °C. As the temperature increases to 300 °C, the discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) mechanism is activated and the average grain size is refined to 1.6 µm by the combined effect of CDRX and DDRX. In comparison to their parent grains, the orientations of the CDRXed grains show a clearly preferred orientation, but those of the DDRXed grains are completely different. At 350 °C, {10-12} extension twins appear in the microstructure, and the twinning-induced recrystallization (TDRX) mechanism plays an important role in grain refinement. With the two strengthening mechanisms of fine-grained strengthening and dislocation strengthening, the microhardness of the 250 °C sample is greatly improved, with an increase of about 35.1% compared to the initial sample.