Grain Refinement and Texture Evolution of Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Zr Alloy Processed by Repetitive Usetting-extrusion at Decreasing Temperature

Abstract

A homogenized Mg-13Gd-4Y-2Zn-0.5Zr (wt%) alloy was subjected to a repetitive upsetting-extrusion (RUE) process at decreasing temperature from 480 °C to 370 °C. The microstructure and texture development of the alloy during the RUE process was investigated. The results show that average grain size decreases with increasing cumulative strain and decreasing temperature. Uniform ultrafine-grain structure with an average grain size of 3.4 μm is achieved after 6 passes, i.e., cumulative strain of 8.4. Grain refinement is induced by a complicated combination of discontinuous dynamic recrystallization(DDRX) and continuous dynamic recrystallization(CDRX). Kink of lamellar long period stacking order (LPSO) phases play an important role in the grain refinement through subdividing the coarse grains by inducing recrystallization evolved in the kink bands. After 1 pass of RUE, a strong basal texture is obtained. With increasing RUE passes, the texture is gradually weakened, which results from cooperative effect of dynamic recrystallization(DRX) and the alternative change of loading directions (axial and radial) during RUE processing.