An electron back-scattered diffraction study on the microstructure evolution of AZ31 Mg alloy during equal channel angular extrusion

Microstructure evolution of AZ31 Mg alloy during equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) was investigated by electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The grains of AZ31 Mg alloy were refined significantly after ECAE 1-8 passes at 498 K and the distributions of grain size tended to be more uniform with pass number increasing. Frequency of sub-boundaries and low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) increased at initial stage of deformation, and sub-boundaries and LAGBs evolved into high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) with further deformation, which resulted in the high frequency of HAGBs in the alloy after ECAE 8 passes. Preferred misorientation angle with frequency peak near 30° and 90° were observed. The frequency peaks were weak after ECAE 1 pass but became stronger with the increase of pass numbers. Micro-textures were formed in AZ31 microstructure during ECAE and were stronger with the pass number increasing.