Microstructures and mechanical properties of a hot extruded Mg–4.45Zn–0.46Y–0.76Zr alloy plate

• A mixed grain structure was obtained after extrusion.
• The texture in the as-extruded ZWK401 alloy plate was analyzed.
• Mechanical properties of the as-extruded alloy plate along ED, 45° direction and TD were investigated.

The microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of the as-extruded Mg–4.45Zn–0.46Y–0.76Zr (ZWK401) alloy plate were investigated on specimens with the extrusion direction (ED), 45° direction and the transverse direction (TD), respectively. The as-extruded alloy showed a mixed grain structure composed of long elongated unrecrystallized grains (LEGs) which contained both stringer LEGs and elliptical LEGs, fine equiaxed recrystallized grains (FEGs) and peculiarly arranged equiaxed grains referred as row stacked grains (RSGs). The texture in the as-extruded ZWK401 alloy plate was formed by six components: {112¯0}〈101¯0〉, {112¯0}〈101¯3〉, {112¯0}〈0001〉, {101¯0}〈112¯0〉, {101¯0}〈0001〉 and {0001}〈101¯0〉. In particular, the predominance of a {112¯0}〈101¯0〉 texture strongly affects twinning and slipping behavior, thus affects the mechanical anisotropy. The ZWK401 alloy plate showed excellent mechanical properties in the ED sample with the UTS of 331 MPa, YS of 278 MPa and elongation to failure of 12.3%.