Transformation of Surface Roughness of Mg Alloy Tubes During Laser Dieless Drawing

Abstract

The paper investigates the transformation of surface roughness of tubes made from magnesium and magnesium alloys as a function of their longitudinal strain during laser dieless drawing. Experimental studies on three materials (AZ31, MgCa08, and pure Mg) have shown that the dependence of roughness on the longitudinal strain is nonlinear and exhibits a minimum. The proposed explanation for this is that the transformation of surface roughness occurs following two mechanisms. The first mechanism involves stretching of the tube and the decreasing of existing roughness with the increasing elongation. The second mechanism is based on the strain-induced surface roughening phenomenon. This mechanism leads to an increase in roughness with the increasing elongation. To analyze these mechanisms, a numerical model of roughness formation is used. It is experimentally shown that the position of the minimum roughness concerning the tube longitudinal strain is correlated with the stress-strain curve of the material under laser dieless drawing conditions. The obtained results provide a practical way to reduce surface roughness of tubes produced by the laser dieless drawing process. According to the proposed method, to achieve minimum roughness, it is necessary to keep the longitudinal strain under a specific value. This value is close to the strain, which corresponds to the maximum stress on the stress-strain curve of the material for temperature and strain rate, corresponding laser dieless drawing conditions.