Microstructural development of high temperature deformed AZ31 magnesium alloys

Due to their significant role in automobile industries, high temperature deformation of Mg-Al-Zn alloys (AZ31) at constant stress (i.e. creep) were studied at a wide range of stresses and temperatures to characterize underlying deformation mechanism, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and dislocation density evolution. Various microstructures (e.g. grain growth & DRX) are noted during steady-state creep mechanisms such as grain boundary sliding (GBS), dislocation glide creep (DGC) and dislocation climb creep (DCC). Although a combination of DRX and grain growth is characteristic of low stacking fault energy materials like Mg alloys at elevated temperatures, observation reveals grain growth at low strain-rates (GBS region) along with dynamic recovery (DRV) mechanism. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed a decrease in dislocation density during GBS region while it increased under dislocation based creep mechanisms which could be related to the possible DRV and DRX respectively. Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) characterization of the fracture surface reveals more inter-granular fracture for large grains (i.e. GBS region with DRV process) and more dimple shape fracture for small grains (i.e. DGC & DCC region with DRX).