Thermo-Mechanical Treatment of Extruded Mg-1Zn Alloy: Cluster Analysis of AE Signals

The proper thermo-mechanical treatment can improve mechanical properties of extruded Mg alloys through a solute segregation and precipitation along twin boundaries. The effect of heat treatment on mobility of twin boundaries with respect to applied loading direction was studied in extruded Mg-1Zn alloy using the acoustic emission (AE) technique. The adaptive sequential k-means clustering (ASKC) was applied to analyze the AE data in order to determine the dominant deformation mechanism in a given time period. The AE energy, median frequency and the number of elements in individual AE clusters are the main parameters of presented clustering analysis. Active deformation mechanisms are discussed with respect to mutual orientation of grains and loading direction.