Grain refined and basal textured surface produced by burnishing for improved corrosion performance of AZ31B Mg alloy

Grain refinement and strong basal texture were produced on AZ31B Mg alloy surface concomitantly by a newly developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) process, severe plasticity burnishing (SPB). The remarkably improved corrosion resistance of AZ31 in NaCl solution after SPB was attributed mainly to dramatically reduced grain size and strongly basal-textured grain orientation. The residual stresses introduced by SPB were also found to influence the corrosion resistance to some extent. Compared with other SPD processes, SPB is fast, cost-effective, does not change material bulk properties and requires little changes to the industrial production process.

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► Significant grain refinement was achieved by severe plasticity burnishing (SPB).
► Strong basal textures were created concomitantly by SPB.
► Corrosion resistance of AZ31B processed by SPB was remarkably improved.
► Effects of texture become more critical than grain refinement when grain size was around 1 μm.
► Residual stresses have less influence than texture and grain size.