Study on Dynamic Mechanical Behavior of Al-Mg-Si Alloy

The dynamic mechanical behavior of Al-Mg-Si alloy was investigated under different strain rates by mechanical property and microstructure characterization,constitutive behavior analysis and numerical simulation in the present study.As the strain rate increases,the yield strength,ultimate tensile strength and elongation increase first,then remain almost constant,and finally increase.The alloy always exhibits a typical ductile fracture mode,not depending on the strain rate.However,as the strain rate increases,the number of dimples gradually increases.Tensile deformation can refine grains,however,the grain structure is slightly affected by the strain rate.An optimized Johnson-Cook constitutive equation was used to describe the mechanical behavior and obtained by fitting the true stress-strain curves.The parameter C was described by a function related to the strain rate.The fitting true stress-strain curves by the JC model agree very well with the experimental true stress-strain curves.The true stress-strain curves calculated by the finite element numerical simulation agree well with the experimental true stress-strain curves.

Effects of Pre-Strain on Bake Hardenability and Precipitation Behavior of Al-Mg-Si Automotive Body Sheets

The study investigates the effects of pre-strain on the bake hardenability and precipitation behavior of Al-Mg-Si automotive body sheets. The scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, tensile test, Vickers hardness test, and differential scanning calorimetry were conducted for the purpose. It was found that the pre-strain treatment partially inhibits the natural aging hardening effect but cannot completely eliminate it. The pre-straining significantly enhances the bake hardening effect, with the 5% pre-strain sample showing the highest increase in yield strength and hardness. The formation of fine β" precipitates and dislocation structures contribute to the observed strengthening. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of optimizing pre-strain levels to achieve the best balance between strength and ductility in bake-hardened aluminum alloys.

Microstructure evolution and precipitation behavior of Al-Mg-Si alloy during initial aging

The microstructure evolution and precipitation behavior of Al-Mg-Si alloy during initial aging were studied using hardness testing, conductivity testing, differential scanning calorimetry(DSC), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM). The results show that the precipitation sequence of the Al-Mg-Si alloy during initial aging can be represented as: supersaturated solid solution → spherical Mg/Si clusters → needle-like Guinier Preston(GP) zone → β″. Clusters are completely coherent with the Al matrix. The GP zone with relatively complete independent lattice parameters that differ slightly from the Al matrix parameters, is oriented along the direction of <111>Aland lying on {111}Alplane. The strength of the Al-Mg-Si alloy is greatly enhanced by the threedimensional strain field that exists between the β″ phase and the two {200}Alplanes. After aging at 170 ℃ for 6 h, the hardness reaches the peak of 127 HV and remains for a long time. At this stage, the electrical conductivity keeps relatively stable due to the formation of coherent precipitates(Mg/Si clusters/GP zones) and the reduction in solute atom concentration in the Al matrix. The severe coarsening and decreased number density of the β″ phase during the over-aging stage result in a significant decrease in the hardness.

Mechanism of plasticity enhancement of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet by accumulative alternating back extrusion

Accumulative alternating back extrusion was a potential fine-grain modification method.In this paper,it was an innovative attempt to develop high-performance magnesium alloy sheet by this process.Under the condition of 350 K,commercial AZ31 magnesium alloy was made into billet by accumulative alternating back extrusion,and then extruded into fine-grain magnesium alloy sheet.Through a systematic study of its microstructure and mechanical properties,the results showed that the initial state had an important influence on the evolution of the structure during extrusion.After accumulative alternating back extrusion to produce the billet,the grain size of the sheet obtained by extrusion was significantly refined,which was related to the accumulation of deformation and grain refinement during the alternating loading process.Grain refinement caused the proportion of dynamic recrystallization inside the sheet with 2 cycles of accumulative alternating back extrusion to drop to 27%.With the increase of extrusion cycles from 2 to 4,the high density of dislocations led to an increase in the proportion of dynamic recrystallization and finer grains.The texture changed from strong basal texture to weak bimodal texture.The results of uniaxial tensile test show that due to grain refinement and texture change,the yield strength was significantly reduced,and the plasticity was significantly improved.It was verified that accumulative alternating back extrusion was meaningful for subsequent processing,and it also provided scientific guidance for the development of fine-grained magnesium alloy sheet.

Unveiling the planar deformation mechanisms for improved formability in pre-twinned AZ31 Mg alloy sheet at warm temperature

To investigate the role of pre-twins in Mg alloy sheets during warm planar deformation,the stretch forming is conducted at 200℃.Results suggest the formability of the pre-twinned AZ31 Mg alloy sheet is enhanced to 11.30 mm.The mechanisms for the improved formability and the deformation behaviors during the planar stretch forming are systematically investigated based on the planar stress states.The Schmid factor for deformation mechanisms are calculated,the results reveal that planar stress states extremely affect the Schmid factor for{10-12}twinning.The detwinning is activated and the prismatic slip is enhanced in the pre-twinned sheet,especially under the planar extension stress state in the outer region.Consequently,the thickness-direction strain is accommodated better.The dynamic recrystallization(DRX)type is continuous DRX(CDRX)regardless of the planar stress state.However,the CDRX degree is greater under the planar extension stress state.Some twin lattices deviate from the perfect{10-12}twinning relation due to the planar compression stress state and the CDRX.The basal texture is weakened when the planar stress state tends to change the texture components.

Effects of dynamic cooling pre-aging treatment on mechanical properties and paint-bake hardening behavior of Al-Mg-Si alloy automotive sheets

In the industrial production, the dynamic cooling pre-aging treatment was employed to replace the isothermal pre-aging during the continuous heat treatment production of Al-Mg-Si alloy automotive sheets. The effects of dynamic cooling pre-aging treatment on mechanical properties and paint-bake hardening behavior of an Al-Mg-Si alloy sheet are proposed in this study. The scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, tensile test, Vickers hardness test, and differential scanning calorimetry were conducted for the purpose. It was found that the dynamic cooling pre-aging treatment at low temperature region led to the decreasing of cluster II, resulting in the deterioration of the ability of the paint-bake hardening. With the increase of the cooling pre-aging temperature, the increasing of cluster II effectively improved the stability against natural aging and the paint-bake hardening ability. The optimized dynamic cooling pre-aging temperature was ~150 ℃. In this condition, the hardness increase of the alloy sheet with pre-aging treatment is low during storage at room temperature. The high yield strength increment is obtained after paint-bake hardening.

Effect of Mg on microstructures and properties of Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminium alloys for automotive body sheets

The effects of variation of Mg content on microstructures, the tensile properties and the formability of Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloys for automotive body sheets were investigated by means of scan electron microscopy, optical metallographic analysis, tensile and Ericsson tests. The results show that for Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminium alloys with excessive Si, with an increment of Mg content, the strength enhances, the specific elongation and Erisson values of alloys decrease, and the number of Mg2Si constituent increases and that of Al（MnFe）Si type constituents reduces. Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminium alloys with excessive Si for automotive body sheets can present obviously the paint bake hardenability during the paint bake cycle （i.e. artificial aging at 170 ℃ for 30 min immediately after the solution treatment and quenching）. Suitable Mg content should be controlled in the range of 0.8% and 1.2%（mass fraction）.

Effect of Sr on forming properties of Al-Mg-Si based alloy sheets

The effects of Sr element on the forming properties of the Al-Mg-Si based alloy sheets were studied by tensile test, metallograph, DSC, XRD, SEM and TEM. The results show that the tensile strength of aluminum alloy sheet added 0.033%(mass fraction)Sr increases comparing with that of free Sr. Simultaneously, the forming properties of sheets evidently increase, the elongation hardenability (n) and plastic strain ratio (r) and Erichsen number increase 27.8%, 11.1%, 10.8% and 12%, respectively, and the forming limit diagram increases evidently, too. The analysis shows that Sr is surface active element, which can refine grains of alloys, promote precipitation, reduce activation energy ofβ' phase, and lead the formation ofα-(Al8Fe2Si) phase instead ofβ-(Al5FeSi) phase. As a result, the forming properties of the alloy sheet increase.

Corrosion mechanism associated with Mg_2Si and Si particles in Al-Mg-Si alloys

The electrochemical behaviors and coupling behaviors of the Mg2Si and Si phases with α（Al） were investigated, the corrosion morphologies of Al alloys containing Mg2Si and Si particles were observed, and the corrosion mechanism associated with them in Al-Mg-Si alloys was advanced. The results show that Si particle is always cathodic to the alloy base, Mg2Si is anodic to the alloy base and corrosion occurs on its surface at the beginning. However, during its corrosion process, the preferential dissolution of Mg and the enrichment of Si make Mg2Si transform to cathode from anode, leading to the anodic dissolution and corrosion of the alloy base at its adjacent periphery at a later stage. As the mole ratio of Mg to Si in an Al-Mg-Si alloy is less than 1.73, it contains Mg2Si and Si particles simultaneously in the grain boundary area, and corrosion initiates on the Mg2Si surface and the precipitate-free zone （PFZ） at the adjacent periphery of Si particle. As corrosion time is extended, Si particle leads to severe anodic dissolution and corrosion of the PFZ at its adjacent periphery, expedites the polarity transformation between Mg2Si and the PFZ and accelerates the corrosion of PFZ at the adjacent periphery of Mg2Si particle.

Forming limit of textured AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet at different temperatures

Repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） was carried out to improve the texture of commercial AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. All specimens were prepared in the rolling direction. The forming limit diagrams （FLDs） of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet were determined experimentally by conducting stretch-forming tests at room temperature, 100, 200 and 300 ℃ Compared with the as-received sheet, the lowest limited strain of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet with tilted texture in the FLD increased by 79% at room temperature and 104% at 100 ℃. The texture also affected the extension of the forming limit curves （FLC） in the FLD. However, the FLCs of two kinds of sheets almost overlapped at temperature above 200 ℃. It can be concluded that the reduction of （0002） texture intensity is effective to the improvement of formability not only at room temperature but also at low-and-medium temperature. The effect of texture on FLDs becomes weak with increasing temperature.

Analysis of bulging process of aluminum alloy by overlapping sheet metal and its formability

The influences of strength coefficient K, work hardening exponent n and thickness t of the overlapping sheet on bulging process are analyzed based on hardening material model. Also, bulging experiments are carried out by taking the aluminum alloy LF21 as formed sheet metal, and selecting overlapping sheet with different thicknesses and material properties, by which accuracy of the above analysis result is verified in the aspects of geometric shape, thickness distribution and limit bulging height. The results show that higher strength coefficient K, larger work hardening exponent n and proper thickness of the overlapping sheet are helpful to improve the formability and forming uniformity of formed sheet metal.

Influence of microstructure and texture on formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets

The effect of the repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） process and annealing on the formability of magnesium alloy sheets was investigated. The RUB process and annealing treatments produce two effects on microstructure： grain coarsening and weakening of the texture. The sheet that underwent RUB and was annealed at 300 ℃exhibits the best formability owing to the reduction of the （0002） basal texture intensity, which results in low yield strength, large fracture elongation, small Lankford value （r-value） and large strain hardening exponent （n-value）. Compared with the as-received sheet, the coarse-grain sheet produced by RUB and annealing at 400 ℃ exhibits lower tensile properties but higher formability. The phenomenon is because the deformation twin enhanced by grain coarsening can accommodate the strain of thickness.

Effects of high temperature pre-straining on natural aging and bake hardening response of Al-Mg-Si alloys

The influences of high temperature pre-straining (HT-PS) on the natural aging and bake hardening of Al?Mg?Si alloys were investigated by Vickers microhardness measurements, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization. The results show that pre-straining at 170 °C immediately after quenching can effectively resolve the rather high T4 temper hardness caused by the conventional room temperature (RT) pre-straining treatment, and give a better bake hardening response (BHR) after paint-bake cycle. HT-PS 7% at 170 °C for 10 min is chosen as the optimum process as it provides lower T4 temper hardness and better BHR. The simultaneous introduction of dislocations and Cluster (2) can significantly suppress the natural aging and promote the precipitation of β″ phase, and reduce the effects of deformation hardening by dynamic recovery.

Theoretical prediction of forming limit diagram of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet at warm temperatures

A theoretical prediction on forming limit diagram（FLD） of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet was developed at warm temperatures based on the M-K theory. Two different yield criteria of von Mises and Hill＇48 were applied in this model. Mechanical properties of AZ31 magnesium alloy used in the prediction were obtained by uniaxial tensile tests and the Fields-Backofen equation was incorporated in the analysis. In addition, experimental FLDs of AZ31 were acquired by conducting rigid die swell test at different temperatures to verify the prediction. It is demonstrated from a comparison between the predicted and the experimental FLDs at 473 K and 523 K that the predicted results are influenced by the type of yield criterion used in the calculation, especially at lower temperatures. Furthermore, a better agreement between the predicted results and experimental data for AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet at warm temperatures was obtained when Hill＇48 yield criterion was applied.

Electroplastic effect in AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet through uniaxial tensile tests

The electroplastic effect in AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet was investigated through uniaxial tensile tests. In order to show the athermal effect of the electrical pulses, two types of uniaxial tensile tests at the same testing temperature were carried out： uniaxial tension in environmental cabinet and uniaxial tension with electrical pulses. In addition, the distribution of temperature field in the cross-section area during uniaxial tension with electrical pulses was simulated. The results show that the distribution of temperature field along the cross-section area is homogeneous. By comparing the true stress？true strain curves of AZ31B alloy under uniaxial tensile tests, the athermal effect with electrical pulses was confirmed. The microstructure evolution after the uniaxial tension was studied by optical microscopy. The results indicate that the electrical pulses induced dynamic recrystallization plays an important role in the decrease of flow stress. Finally, a flow stress model of AZ31B sheet taking the influence of electroplastic effect into account was proposed and validated. The results demonstrate that the calculated data fit the experimental data well.

Flexible die drawing of magnesium alloy sheet by superimposing ultrasonic vibration

Combining solid granule medium forming technology with ultrasonic vibration plastic forming technology, ultrasonic vibration granule medium forming （UGMF） technology was proposed. To reveal the effect of ultrasonic vibration on flexible-die deep drawing, an ultrasonic vibration with a frequency of 20 kHz and a maximum output of 1.5 kW was on the solid granule medium deep drawing of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet. The results revealed that ultrasonic vibration promotes the pressure transmission performance of the granule medium and the formability of the sheet. The forming load declines with the ultrasonic amplitude during the drawing process as a result of the combined influence of the ＂surface effect＂ and the ＂softening＂ of the ＂volume effect＂.

Fatigue behavior of friction stir spot welded AZ31 Mg alloy sheet joints

The fatigue behavior of friction stir spot welded （FSSW） AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet joints was investigated by tension- compression of fatigue test. The results suggest that all the fatigue failures occur at the stir zone of the FSSW AZ31 sheet joints, and all cracks initiate at the stir zone outer edge between the upper and lower sheet. When the cycle force equals 1 kN, the crack propagates along the interface of heat-affected zone and thermo-mechanical zone, simultaneously across the direction of force; while the cycle force equals 3 kN, the crack propagates along the diameter of stir zone and shear failure occurs finally. Moreover, the transverse microsections indicate that there is a tongue-like region at the outer edge of stir zone between the two AZ31 sheets, and the direction of tongue-like region is toward outside of the stirred zone and all fatigue cracks initiate at the tongue-like region.

Textural Evolution of AZ31B Magnesium Alloy Sheets Undergoing Repeated Unidirectional Bending at Room Temperature

In this paper, repeated unidirectional bending （RUB）, was applied to improve the texture of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets so as to enhance their stamping properties. The samples undergoing RUB were annealed at different temperatures. The mechanical properties, formability, textural components and microstructure of the samples before and after RUB were characterized and compared. It was found that the basal textural component was reduced dramatically by RUB, and that （1212） and （1211） textural components appeared. Annealing has a great effect on the mechanical properties of samples undergoing RUB. The plasticity and stamping formability of samples were greatly improved by RUB and annealing at 260℃ for 1 h, and elongation to fracture and Erichsen value were increased to 38% and 67%, respectively.

Refining Effect of a New Al3Ti1B1RE Master Alloy on Al Sheets Used for Can Manufacture and Behavior of Rare Earths in Master Alloy

The refining effect of Al3Ti1B1RE master alloy on Al sheets used for pressure can manufacture and the behavior of mixed rare earths in master alloy were investigated with XRD, OM, SEM and EDAX. It is found that the refining effect of the refiner on the material has superiority over foreign or domestic Al5Ti1B refiner, and the refiner still retains its refining ability for 6 h after adding it to molten Al, thus improving the strength and plasticity of the material remarkably. The excellent refining effect and stability of AlTiBRE refiner result from that RE can lower the surface energy of molten Al and improve the wetting characteristics of molten Al on refinement nuclei such as TiAl 3, TiB 2, etc., thus giving full play to the effect of heterogeneous nucleation and impeding the congregating tendency of TiB 2 phase in molten Al. At the same time, RE gathering in front of solid/liquid interface are also easy to cause composition supercooling in molten Al, thus impeding the growth of α Al grains and promoting α Al nucleation on refinement nuclei. In addition, RE also play certain role in purification and grain refinement, or modification, especially their effect of purification can improve the metallurgical quality of AlTiBRE master alloy.

Combined effect of deformation and artificial aging on mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Si Alloy

The effect of pre-deformation followed by or together with artificial aging on the mechanical properties as strength and ductility of an AA6060 aluminium alloy was studied. AA6060 was initially cast, homogenized and extruded according to standard industrial practice. The extruded material was then subjected to a solution heat treatment and subsequently artificial aging after （sequential mode） and during （simultaneous mode） various combinations of deformation （0-10%） and heat treatments. The aging behaviour and mechanical properties were characterized in terms of Vickers hardness and tensile testing. It is found that precipitation kinetics and associated mechanical response, in terms of hardness and tensile properties are strongly affected by pre-deformations. In terms of aging behaviour, kinetics is accelerated and the peak strength generally increases. Comparing sequential mode and simultaneous mode, the latter seems to give overall better mechanical properties and after considerably shorter aging times. The results of the two modes of pre-deformation are compared and discussed in view of differences in processing conditions and microstructure characteristics.