The influence of microstructure on the shock and spall behaviour of the magnesium alloy, Elektron 675

Alloying elements such as aluminium, zinc and rare earth metals allow precipitation hardening of magnesium (Mg). The low densities of such strengthened Mg alloys have led to their adoption as aerospace materials and (more recently) they are being considered as armour materials. Consequently, understanding their response to high strain-rate loading is becoming increasingly important. Here, the plate-impact technique was employed to measure stress evolution in an armour-grade wrought Mg alloy (Elektron 675) under one-dimensional shock loading. The effects of sample orientation and heat treatment were examined. The spall behaviour was interrogated using a heterodyne velocimeter system, with an estimate made of the material’s spall strength and Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) for both aged and unaged materials. In particular, it is shown that the HEL and spall strength values are higher along the extrusion direction. It is thought that this is caused by striations of relatively small grains that run along the extrusion direction.