Forging of Al-Mg compounds and characterization of interface

For a further reduction of the component weight it is necessary to apply new and innovative lightweight materials. Within the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 692 the investigations are focused on the production of aluminum (EN AW-6082) coated magnesium (AZ31) strands by a hydrostatic co-extrusion process and the processing of such kind of semi-finished products by forging processes. Due to the hydrostatic co-extrusion process a firmly bonded compound with an interface consisting of the intermetallic phases Al3Mg2 and Al12Mg17 was achieved. These hybrid Al-Mg compounds were used as semi-finished products for the basic forging processes upsetting, spreading and rising. The aim of the investigations was the determination of the formability of the normally brittle intermetallic phases. This paper describes the forming of co-extruded Al-Mg parts and focuses on the interface behavior under different load conditions. The fracture mechanism of the interface and the analysis of the microstructure of the intermetallic phases will be explained. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).