Preparation of semi-solid billet of magnesium alloy and its thixoforming

Preparation of semi-solid billet of magnesium alloy and thixoforming was investigated by applying equal channel angular extrusion to magnesium alloy. The results show that mechanical properties of AZ91D alloy at room temperature, such as yield strength(YS), ultimate tensile strength(UTS) and elongation, are enhanced greatly by four-pass equal channel angular extrusion(ECAE) at 573 K and microstructure of AZ91D alloy is refined to the average grain size of 20 βm. Through using ECAE as strain induced step in SIMA and completing melt activated step by semi-solid isothermal treatment, semi-solid billet with fine spheroidal grains of 25 βm can be prepared successfully. Compared with common SIMA, thixoformed satellite angle frame components using semi-solid billet prepared by new SIMA have higher mechanical properties at room temperature and high temperature of 373 K.