Grain refinement, texture, and mechanical properties of a magnesium alloy after radial-shear rolling

Abstract Microstructure (including its uniformity), texture, and mechanical properties of Mg-Al-Zn-Mn alloy billets after radial-shear rolling (RSR) were investigated. RSR with the temperature in the interval 420–140 °C and true strain up to 2.63 was shown to lead to grain refinement down to 1.5–3.5 μm (as determined by optical microscopy). The microstructure was found to be reasonably uniform over the transversal cross-sections of the billets. The transmission electron microscopy analysis also revealed submicron sized grains and the formation of two types of particles: Mg 17 Al 12 particles 300–500 nm in size and MgAl nanoparticles of different shapes 20–40 nm in size. Increments in strain and step-wise decrease in deformation temperature with the number of RSR passes was found to lead to a transformation of the initial basal texture to the prismatic texture. The RSR of the Mg-Al-Zn-Mn magnesium alloy was demonstrated to result in significant strength and good ductility owing to a fortunate interplay between fine grain structure and favorable texture promoting activity of non-basal slip systems.