Twin-Roll-Casting and Hot Rolling of Magnesium Alloy WE43☆

Abstract Twin-Roll-Casting enables the production of magnesium strip and sheet material with advanced properties. In the course of a junior research group, supported by the Development Bank of Saxony as well as the European social fund, the magnesium alloy WE43 was successfully Twin-Roll-Cast for the first time. For this, a new developed casting system with a maximum width of 250 mm has been used. This system is part of the Twin-Roll-Casting pilot plant at the Institute of Metal Forming, which is used in collaboration with the MgF Magnesium Flachprodukte GmbH. Previously, differential scanning calorimetry was carried out in order to get more information about the solidification range of the WE43 alloy. Subsequent to Twin-Roll-Casting, the WE43 sheet was homogenized at different temperatures, and hot rolled to a final thickness of 2 mm. with a reduction per pass of 10% to 15%. After every second reduction stage an intermediate annealing was performed. The influence of temperature and time of the annealing on microstructure and mechanical properties has been investigated. Based on the results, conclusions for Twin-Roll-Casting and hot rolling of a WE43 alloy in industrial scale were made. Finally, a comparison between WE43 and AZ31 has been established.