Strain-hardening behavior and microstructure development in polycrystalline as-cast Mg-Zn-Y alloys with LPSO phase subjected to cyclic loading

The strain-hardening behavior and microstructural development of polycrystalline as-cast Mg-Zn-Y alloys with various volume fractions of the long-period stacking ordered (LPSO) phase subjected to cyclic loading were experimentally evaluated. For all alloys, cyclic loading tests with a constant strain amplitude of 0.5% for up to 100 cycles showed asymmetric cyclic hardening behavior. That is, the absolute value of the compressive peak stress significantly increased during cyclic loading while the tensile peak stress slightly decreased. With increasing volume fraction of the LPSO phase, the stress amplitude significantly increased. Cyclic loading tests after compressive preloading up to 200 or 250 MPa resulted in a significant increase in the stress amplitude, while a number of kink bands developed during preloading. For the cyclic hardening behavior, the contribution of the increase in kinematic hardening was significant in the alloys with a higher volume fraction of the LPSO phase. Transmission electron microscopy observation of the cyclically deformed Mg85Zn6Y9 alloy indicated the formation of a deformation-induced band, where the crystal structure was transformed from 18R-LPSO to hcp-Mg with the exclusion of solute elements.