Achieving superplastic properties in a ZK10 magnesium alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing

Equal-channel angular pressing provides an opportunity for refining the grain structure and introducing superplastic properties in magnesium alloys. This report describes the use of this processing technique with a ZK10 (Mg-1.0 wt.% Zn-0.26 wt.% Zr) alloy. The grain structure was successfully refined from ∼12.9 to ∼5.2 μm after 4 passes and superplastic elongations were observed when testing at low strain rates at temperatures of 473 and 523 K. An analysis shows that the superplastic behavior is consistent with the conventional theoretical model for superplastic flow and at higher stresses and strain rates there is a transition to control by a viscous glide process.