Superplasticity of a hot rolled Mg–3Zn–0.5RE–0.5Zr (ZEK300) alloy

Abstract

Superplasticity of a hot rolled fine-grained Mg–3Zn–0.5RE–0.5Zr (ZEK300) alloy was assessed via shear punch testing (SPT). The deformation behavior of the alloy having a grain size of 4.5 μm exhibited regions I, II and III, typical of superplastic materials. In region II, the strain rate sensitivity indices of ZEK300 alloy were obtained as 0.51, 0.48 and 0.41 at 350, 400 and 450 °C, respectively. The average activation energy of 87.6 kJ mol–1 implies that the principal mechanism of deformation is grain boundary sliding (GBS) facilitated by grain boundary diffusion.