The relationships between residual stress relaxation and texture development in AZ31 Mg alloys via the vibratory stress relief technique

A systematic study of residual stress relaxation and the texture evolution of cold-rolled AZ31 Mg alloys using the vibratory stress relief technique with a simple cantilever beam vibration system was performed using a high-resolution X-ray diffractometer and a portable X-ray residual stress analyzer. The effects of vibrational stress excitation on the surface residual stress distribution and on the texture of pole figures (0002) occurring during the vibratory stress relief were examined. Compared with the effects corresponding to the same alloy under non-vibration condition, it can be observed that the uniform surface residual stress distribution and relaxation of the compressive residual stress in the stress concentration zone were observed rather than all of the residual stresses being eliminated. Furthermore, with an increase in the vibrational aging time, the compressive residual stress, texture density, and (0002) preferred orientation increased first and then decreased. It should be underlined that the vibratory stress relief process for the vibrational aging time of more than 10 min is able to weaken the strong basal textures of AZ31 Mg alloys, which is valuable for enhancement of their formability and is responsible for an almost perfect 3D-Debye-Scherrer ring. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.