The role of microstructure and texture in controlling mechanical properties of AZ31B magnesium alloy processed by I-ECAP

Mechanical properties of AZ31B magnesium alloy were modified in this work by various processing routes of incremental equal channel angular pressing (I-ECAP) followed by heat treatment. Possible strategies for improving ductility and strength of the alloy were investigated. Processing by routes A and B-C showed that texture plays predominant role in controlling mechanical properties at room temperature. Four passes of I-ECAP by route C followed by annealing enhanced ductility up to 035 of true strain. It was found that tensile twinning was important in accommodating strain during tensile testing, which resulted in a very good hardening behaviour. The yield strength was improved to 300 MPa by refining grain size to 0.8 mu m in I-ECAP at 150 degrees C. The obtained structure and properties were shown to be stable up to 150 degrees C. True strain at fracture was increased to 0.2 after annealing at 150 degrees C without lowering strength. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.