Metadynamic recrystallization behavior of AZ61 magnesium alloy

•Metadynamic recrystallization (MDRX) in AZ61 Mg alloy was studied under double-hit compression.•MDRX dominant strain region was detected by imposing different pre-strains.•The progress of MDRX had a remarkable effect on the subsequent flow behavior characteristics.•The effect of MDRX on microstructure evolution of AZ61 alloy was discussed.

Metadynamic recrystallization (MDRX) behavior of AZ61 magnesium alloy and its effects on flow behavior and microstructure evolution have been investigated in this study. Towards this end, a set of double-hit hot compression tests was conducted under strain rate of 0.1 s−1 at 400 °C. To differentiate the static and metadynamic recrystallization dominant strain regions, the first stage of deformation was carried out up to the different pre-strains with a constant inter-pass annealing time of 200 s. The results indicated that the MDRX is predominant recrystallization mechanism where the pre-strains are higher than 0.35. Furthermore, to investigate the influence of MDRX on subsequent flow behavior and the related microstructure, an elaborated inter-pass annealing treatment was executed employing a range of inter-pass annealing time (2–500 s). The results show that the progress of MDRX leads to an increase in the flow stress as well as the rate of work hardening encountered in the subsequent deformation. Additionally, the microstructural examinations confirm that the observed hardening phenomenon is a consequence of grain growth evolved from MDRX and its direct effect on the onset of dynamic recrystallization at the second stage of deformation.