The Effect of Hot Deformation on the Microstructure of AZ91 Magnesium Alloy

Due to the great variety of applications of magnesium alloys with superior mechanical properties, recent studies have been focused on the hot deformation behavior and microstructure of magnesium alloy castings. Although there have been several recent investigations on the microstructure of wrought magnesium alloys after hot deformation, a limited number of studies have been conducted with regard to the evolution of grain structure during hot working processes. The present work examines the microstructural evolution during hot deformation of magnesium alloy AZ91. The specimens were hot compressed to the peak strain values of 0.3 and 0.5 at the temperature range of 350 to 425 °C with the strain rate of 0.1 s−1. Structural changes were studied using the optical and scanning electron microscopes. The results showed that the recrystallized grains nucleate along the pre-existing grain boundaries during the compression process. The fraction of dynamically recrystallized grains increased with an increase in the strain value in a sigmoidal way expressed by Avrami equation. The dynamically recrystallized grain size also increased at the beginning with strain, and then decreased after its maximum value being reached.