Effect of pre-aging on microstructure, activation energy, texture evolution of Mg–9Gd–4Y–2Zn–0.5Zr alloy during compression deformation

Abstract

This paper illustrated the effects of pre-aging on the microstructure, texture evolution, and deformation behavior of Mg–9Gd–4Y–2Zn–0.5Zr alloy during hot compression. Dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior, texture evolution, stress-strain curve, and activation energy of the solid solution and pre-aged alloy were evaluated. The results showed that the second-phase particles of the pre-aged samples exhibit combination of two types particles structure, which is composed of coarse dynamic precipitation particles and fine nanoparticles. The combination of these two types particles showed the best grain refinement effect by accelerating the DRX process, as the coarse dynamic precipitation particles promoted DRX through the PSN mechanism and the fine granular phase pinned dislocations and inhibited grain growth. As a result, the pre-aged samples had a higher DRX grain volume fractions and smaller average grain sizes than the solid solution alloys. In addition, the pre-aged sample had higher deformation activation energy (Q = 294.8 kJ/mol) than solid solution sample (Q = 223 kJ/mol) because β-phase pin dislocations formed during deformation restrained the movement of grain boundaries. The pre-aged alloys also showed a more concentrated texture than the solid solution alloys, with the c-axis of the coarse grains distributed from the compression direction (CD) at 30° inclination to the normal direction (ND). The c-axis distribution of the coarse grains was more scattered in the solid solution alloys. A hot processing map was constructed for the pre-aged alloy and used for evaluation. The optimal deformation parameters for the pre-aged Mg–9Gd–4Y–2Zn–0.5Zr alloy were between 0.001 and 0.1 s−1 at 400 °C–480 °C. These significant observations not only provide theoretical guidance but also practical application for setting plastic forming deformation parameters in industrial production.