The effect of pre-twinning on the mechanical behavior of free-end torsion for an extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of pre-twinning on the mechanical behavior of free-end torsion (FET) for an extruded AZ31 Mg alloy was investigated via pre-compression along extruded direction with 1.5%, 3.5%, 5.5% and 6.5% plastic strain levels. After pre-compression, torsion was performed at room temperature. The yield strength was enhanced remarkably during FET test after 3.5% pre-compression. However, the change of yield strength is small during FET with pre-compression (PRC) greater than 3.5%. Refinement hardening induced by twinning contributes to the enhancement of yield strength for PRC 3.5 specimen. With pre-strain increasing, the change of yield strength is ascribed to dislocation hardening. The stage II and stage III of strain hardening were observed during pure torsion and FET test after 1.5% pre-compression. In contrast, the stage II is suppressed and the stage III only occurs during FETs after 3.5%, 5.5% and 6.5%. The pre-twinning favor the activation of prismatic slip under torsion, which enhances multiple slip and dynamic recovery. The transition of deformation mechanisms from basal slip to multiple slip leads to the change of strain hardening during FET after different pre-strain levels.