PREDICTION OF Mg ALLOY FORMABILITY

CHALLENGES

Recent alloy development activities in wrought Mg have started due to the interest in
using lightweight magnesium as automotive sheet and extrusions for vehicle body
applications. It is being acknowledged that this alloy may not be suitable or indeed
able to meet the critical property and production requirements imposed by high-
volume, low-margin consumer applications. The challenges in using wrought Mg for
automotive applications lie in cost as well as in properties. Major hortcomings of the
common Mg alloys in wrought condition are: poor formability (r-value, n-exponent),
basal texture, yield asymmetry associated with twinning, edge cracking in rolling
related to compression banding and twinning, low tensile strength at high extrusion
speeds, low ductility at high strength.

Crystal structure and its consequences

HCP crystal lattice and major planes of magnesium are shown in Fig With lattice
parameters a = 3.18 Å and c = 5.19 Å , slightly less than the ideal c/a ratio of
1.62354 (at 25 ° C) of Mg crystal, appears important in explaining some fundamental
characteristics of the metal.
Mg, in turn, results in a somewhat larger primitive cell volume compared to other
HCP metals, leading to smaller SFE levels, for example, 36 ergs/cm2 for basal plane
of magnesium.

RECRYSTALLIZATION AND GRAIN GROWTH

Continuous DRX (CDRX), which includes the formation of stable three dimensional
arrays of deformation low-angle boundaries (LABs) followed by their gradual
transformation into high-angle grain boundaries (HABs) upon straining. New grains
are formed progressively within the deformed original grains from the continuous
increase in misorientation across deformation-induced boundaries
• Discontinuous DRX (DDRX), which involves the development of HABs via the
nucleation and growth of new grains. Nuclei evolve on original HABs due to the
operation of a bulging mechanism.
DDRX usually occurs in materials with relatively low stacking fault energies. The
local migration, i.e. bulging, of grain boundaries leads to the formation of nuclei,
which then grow out and consume a deformed matrix, resulting in decreased
dislocation density, and providing strain softening. Thus this mechanism involves the
development of high-angle grain boundaries via the nucleation and growth of new
grains. It is closely related to strain induced migration of initial boundaries. Local
migration of boundaries of large DRX grains resulting in repetitive DDRX is rarely
observed.
• DRX mechanism associated with twinning (TDRX), in which twinning leads to the
formation of coarse lamellae surrounded by special grain boundaries. There are at
least three processes by which this can occur: Mutual intersection of primary twins,
the occurrence of secondary twinning within the coarse lamella, and coarse twin
lamellae can be subdivided by deformation-induced LABs that transform into
conventional HABs upon further straining and provide chains of DRX grains.

Conclusions
At present, the diversity of DRX phenomenon in magnesium and its alloys are
relatively well-recognized. The main DRX mechanisms are closely related to the
operating deformation mechanisms that control the nucleation process and,
therefore, strongly affect the rate of DRX, DRX grain size and the distribution of
recrystallized grains within the material. This is a unique feature of the DRX behavior
of magnesium and its alloys. Future trends in research and development activity
should be focused on the development of a commercial technique for high-volume
production of semi-finished products including sheets from magnesium alloys with
UFG structures. To achieve this goal the new compositions of wrought magnesium
alloys have to be developed taking into account the facilitation of producing a UFG
structure via thermomechanical processing based on the DRX phenomenon .

REFERENCE

● Mihriban O. Pekguleryuz ,Karl U. Kainer and A. Arslan Kaya, editors. Fundamentals of

magnesium alloy metallurgy. : Philadelphia, PA 19102-3406, USA; Woodhead
Publishing Limited; 2013

● Colleen Bettles and Matthew Barnett editors. Advances in wrought magnesium

alloys : Philadelphia, PA 19102-3406, USA; Woodhead Publishing Limited; 2012