Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Al-Zn alloy deformed by cold extrusion

Cold extrusion of fine-grained AZ31 magnesium alloys was studied in this paper. Microstructure of the as-extruded specimen was investigated by electronic backscattered diffraction (EBSD). The grains were significantly refined and the average grain size was 2 mu m. Dynamic recrystallization has taken place during the extrusion process, which resulted in the high frequency of high angle grain boundaries in the alloys. During the extrusion process, basal plane texture was notably weakened compared with the original texture distribution. The extruded rods exhibited high tensile strength (322 MPa) and yield strength (233 MPa). The strength improvement was attributed to the basal planes distributions and the grain size refinement. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.