Flow stress of wrought magnesium alloys during hot compression deformation at medium and high temperatures

The plasticity of AZ31 and ZK60 magnesium alloys was studied by means of hot compression deformation tests on Gleeble 1500D machines at different temperatures and strain rates. The results indicate that the thermal simulation curves of AZ31 and ZK60 have different forms under the same deformation condition. The general curves of AZ31 have the character of dynamic recrystallization that the flow stress increases to a peak and then decreases to a steady state. Most deformation curves of ZK60 have the obvious character that around 0.2 in strain the stress reaches the peak and declines rapidly to the lowest, while the other curves have the character of dynamic recrystallization. From the analysis, a deformation temperature should reasonably be selected from 250 °C to 400 °C for AZ31, while it was concluded to be 200 °C or 400 °C for ZK60.