Effects of SPD by Biaxial Alternate Forging on the Tensile Properties and Microstructure of AZ31B Magnesium Alloy

The forming limit of AZ31 alloy, a representative Mg-Al-Zn-based wrought alloy, and the effect of severe plastic deformation (SPD) by examining the microstructure change caused by dynamic recrystallization led by high temperature and high dislocation density at 300℃ using a biaxial alternate forging (BAF) were investigated in this study. As a result of BAF test for AZ31 Mg alloy, significant cracks on the ends of workpieces occurred after 7 passes. The microstructure of as-extruded specimen showed the non-uniform distribution of the relatively coarse grains and the fine grains considered to be sub-grains. However, as the number of passes increases, the area of coarse grains gradually disappeared and the fine grains became more dominant in the microstructures. The result of tensile test for workpieces with each forging pass showed an increase in strength depending on pass number was shown with a slight increase of elongation. The Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) results exhibited that, the microstructure showed the presence of coarse grains and twins after only 1 pass, while the grains appeared to be significantly refined and uniformly distributed after 3 pass, at which the strength and elongation began to increase, simultaneously.