Ameliorating the mechanical properties of magnesium alloy: Role of texture

AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet was fabricated by two different approaches, namely conventional extrusion (CE) and differential speed extrusion (DSE), under the same process conditions and extrusion ratio. The microstructures, textures and mechanical properties of AZ31é magnesium alloy sheets processed by the CE and DSE processes were investigated. It was found that with the DSE process more uniform and finer microstructures were obtained. The DSE sheet exhibited the lower yield strength and yield ratio, but the larger n value combined with the lower r value, which made the DSE sheet achieve an excellent formability. Those results were mainly attributed to a tilted weak texture resulted from the differential flow speed of alloy at the severe deformation zone.