Microstructure, mechanical behavior and low temperature superplasticity of ECAP processed ZM21 Mg alloy

In this study, ultra-fine grained ZM21 Mg alloy was obtained through two-stage equal channel angular pressing process (ECAP) at temperatures of 200 and 150 °C. For each stage four passes were used. Plastic behavior, mechanical asymmetry and low temperature superplasticity of ultra-fine grained ZM21 alloy were investigated as a function of processing condition with particular attention to microstructural and texture evolution. Microstructural observations showed that after the first stage of ECAP an equiaxed ultra-fine grain (UFG) structure with average size of 700 nm was obtained. Additional stage did not cause any further grain refinement. However, Electron Backscattered Diffraction analysis showed that the original extrusion fiber texture evolved into a new one featuring a favorable alignment of the basal planes along ECAP shear planes. Such a preferential alignment provided a considerably higher Schmid factor value of 0.32, resulting in a remarkable loss in tensile yield stress, from 212 to 110 MPa and an improvement of the tensile fracture elongation, from 24% to 40%. Tensile and compression tests at room temperature revealed that yielding asymmetry could be alleviated by either weakening of basal plane fiber texture or by grain refinement. Tensile tests at 150 °C showed that texture supplies a significant contribution to plastic flow and elongation, making dislocation slip the dominant mechanism for deformation, while grain boundary sliding was not actively operated at this temperature. However, at 200 °C the effect of texture on fracture elongation of UFG alloys was subtle and the impact of grain size became more important. Hence, UFG samples exhibited maximum elongation values exceeding 370% at a strain rate of 5.0 × 10−4 s−1, confirming that the flow stress has notable texture dependence, while superplastic ductility was strongly influenced by grain size, being detectable only in UFG samples.