Hot deformation behavior and microstructural evolutions of a Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Zr alloy prepared by hot extrusion

The hot deformation behavior of extruded Mg-9.5Gd-4Y-2Zn-0.5Zr alloy was studied through hot compression tests conducted at deformation temperatures of 350-500 degrees C and strain rates of 0.001-1 s- 1. Under most deformation conditions, the flow stress first reached a maximum before decreasing to a stable value, demonstrating characteristics of dynamic recrystallization (DRX). The constitutive equation of the alloy was established as epsilon(center dot) =1.03 * 1011[sinh(0.01287 * sigma p) ]2.422exp(-171150/RT) through calculations and derivation. The influences of the deformation temperature and strain rate on the microstructure and DRX of the alloy during the hot compression process were investigated using electron backscatter diffraction. It was found that at temperatures between 350 degrees C and 450 degrees C, the alloy texture exhibited multiple {0001} peak rings distributed around the normal axis of the compression direction. When the strain rate was 0.001 s- 1, the average equivalent grain diameter significantly increased from 3.3 mu m to 22.4 mu m with the rise in deformation temperature, whereas when the deformation temperature was 450 degrees C, the volume fraction of DRX grains noticeably decreased from 87.6% to 13.2 % with the increasing strain rate. Further research revealed that due to the restriction of strain rate on grain boundary migration, discontinuous dynamic recrystallization and continuous dynamic recrystallization were the predominant DRX mechanisms at low and high strain rates, respectively.