Analysis of texture evolution in magnesium during equal channel angular extrusion

Texture development in magnesium during equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) with an angle of 90 degrees between the intersecting channels has been studied. Textures were simulated using polycrystal plasticity models as well as determined experimentally for routes A B-c and C up to four passes. Based on a previous study on texture evolution during the simple shear of materials with hexagonal crystal structures [Beausir B, Toth LS, Neale KW. Acta Mater 2007;2695:2705], the ideal orientations for ECAE of hexagonal metals were identified considering the shear to be at the 45 degrees intersection plane of the two channels. Although dynamic recrystallization (DRX) was experimentally observed during the ECAE experiments, the polycrystal modeling using the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) model was able to reproduce the experimental textures successfully. This was attributed to the fact that the textures were c-type fibers with their axis of rotation parallel to the c-axis, whereas the nucleation of grains during DRX takes place in positions simply rotated around the c-axis. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.