IMEPEG (2019) 28:3021-3030
intipss/do:ong/10.1007%811665-019-04067-2
ASM International
1059-9495/819.00,
Microstructure, Texture, and Mechanical Properties
of AM60 Magnesium Alloy Processed by Extrusion
and Multidirectional Forging
‘MA, Salevat, F. Akbaripanah (9, and R. Mabmudi
(Submitted October 15, 2018; in revised form February 13, 2019: published online Aprit 29, 2019)
In the present paper, multidirectional forging (MDF), as a severe plastic deformation process, was carried
out on an extruded AMG0 magnesium alloy. The microstructure, texture, and mechanical properties of the
MDFed samples were examined. Microstructural findings indicated that the grain size of the alloy de-
creased from 10.2 to 3.7 um after six MDF passes, carried out at a constant temperature of 220 °C.
‘Textural studies revealed that after six MDF passes, the fiber texture of the extruded material was
transformed to another texture, in which the basal planes tend to rotate toward 45° to the transverse
direction. Shear punch testing (SPT) was employed (0 assess the shear yield stress (SYS) and ultimate shear
strength (USS) at room temperature, Both SYS and USS were enhanced after two MDF passes, but
‘decreased in the next pressing stages, despite developing finer grains at higher levels of imposed strain. The
observed drop in strength is ascribed to texture softening that counterbalances the grain refinement
strengthening effects. The variation in average microhardness values ufler different passes of MDF showed
the trend that was in concurrence with the rise and fall of the SPT results. Finally, the changes in
‘mechanical properties were discussed, based on the microstructural and textural findings.
Keywords magnesium alloy, mechanical pre
multidirectional forging, texture
1. Introduction
Nowadays, lightweight alloys have gained a more vital role
due tothe energy crisis, environmental issues, and the need for
building lighter structures for less fuel consumption in the
transportation industry. Because of their low density, good
castabilty, high srengthtowlnsity ratio, ease of reeycability
and rational cost, magnesium alloys have attracted considerable
attention (Ref 1,2). However, Mg alloys tend to develop coarse
grains during’ high-temperature processing, and their
microstructure becomes inhomogeneous, affecting their
‘mechanical propertis. Grain refinement is @ proper way of
enhancing mechanical properties of Mg alloys. Different sev
Plastic deformation (SPD) processes, such as equal channel
angular extrusion (ECAE), accumulative rol-bonding (ARB),
highepessure torsion (HPT) and multidirectional. forging
(MDE, are well-established techniques for refining grains ‘0
submicron levels and improving mechanical properties (Ret 3-
0
With the increase in deformation severity, materials undergo
considerable refinement in such a way that they finally each an
ultrafine grained (UFG) microstucture. Among all SPD
MA. Salevati and F Akbaripanah, Department of Mechanical
Engincering, Faculty of Enginering, Malayer University, Mal
Iran; and R. Mahmud, ‘School of Motallrgc
Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tebra
Iran. Contact email, fakbanpanahamelayer. ae
Joumal of Materials Engincering and Performance
techniques, MDF has @ high potential for sealing up to be
used in real industrial applications, where the parts are of
relatively large sizes. Tn essence, MDF is a closed-die forging,
process, in which the direction of applied strain is changed al
cach step (ie, x > y 9 29 x >...) Since the
dimensions of the workpiece remain constant after the forming,
process, large plastic strains can be induced to the sample
during repeated compression
Guo et al. (Ref 8) performed MDF on A780 magnesium
alloy at 390°C, reporting a critical strain that controls the
extent of structural uniformity. After this critical strain,
however, fine uniform microstructures may be achieved, further
refinement of which becoming difficult. Zhao et al. (Ref 9)
examined the microstructural changes of an_as-extruded
AZ91D ~ Yalloy processed by MDF at 300 °C. They reported
that the inerease in the number of MDF passes improves the
‘microstructural uniformity, hardness, and strength, Li et al.
(Ref 10) studied the microstructure and mechanical properties
of a cast AZ61 alloy deformed by MDF at 320°C with an
increased strain rate, It was reported that the structure of the
tested material was refined gradually with inereasing the MDF
passes, resulting in enhanced uniformity of the microstructure,
Shear punch test (SPT) is a miniaturized test used for
obtaining the strength of many materials by using only a small
sample. The initial idea for this test procedure comes from the
blanking operation, in which a sheet material is sheared by a
flat-ended punch through a die hole (Ref 4), There are many.
similarities between the flow behavior derived from the load—
displacement curves obtained in the SPT and uniaxial tension
curves (Ref l-l3), The deviation point, where the curve
deviates from linear behavior, is defined as the shear yield
siress (SYS), and the stress at the maximum load is defined as,
‘ultimate shear strength (USS). Even though this technique was
primarily applied to thin sheet metals, it has recently been
expanded for use in magnesium alloys processed by different
Volume 28(5) May 2019—3021SPD methods of ECAP (Ref 14, 15), high-pressure torsion
(HPT) (Ref 16) and fiction stir processing (FSP) (Ref 17). Ibis
‘well accepted that texture has a significant effect on mechanical
properties, and therefore, the influence of inital texture and,
cexture evolution during plastic deformation has been reported
in several references (Ref 15, 18, 19). The aim of this study is
to examine the effect of extrusion and MDF oa the microstruc
ture, texture, shear strength, hardness, and_microhardness
homogeneity in an AM60 magnesium alloy. The variations in
shear strength after different passes of MDF ate explained,
based on the grain size and textural evolution of the material.
While most of the studies on the MDF of magnesium alloys
have considered the influence of grain size on the strength of
che materials, it is intended to show that textural modifications
can have a crucial role in this respect.
2, Experimental Procedure
The AMG0 alloy, with the nominal composition of Mg-6Al-
035M-0.12n, was prepared using high-purity (about
99.9 wt%) Mg, Al, and Mn, The weighted charge was melted
in an clectical fuace under « covering flux held at 750 °C.
‘The molten alloy was held at this temperature for 30 min and,
stirred by a stainless steel bar for 2 min before being cast
Pouring was accomplished in a stecl mold preheated to 150 °C.
The cylindrical cat billets of 44 mam diameter were extruded t0
13 mm x 13 mm rectangular bars at 380 °C. The extruded
bars were excised to billets having dimensions of 13 mm x
13 mm x 20 mm for MDF processing, The billets were
farmed in the MDF dic at an isothermal temperature of
220 °C in s universal tensile testing machine, where they were
forged by repeated pressing after changing the loading direction,
by an angle of 90°
TThe schematic representation of the dic assembly together
with the sequence of the MDF process is depicted in Fig. 1
‘The dic assembly was heated to the desired temperature for
cach pass before the placement of the sample. Afier attaining,
the desired temperature in the MDF die, the sample was given,
15 min for temperature equilibrium before the pressing was
carried out, A true strain of 0.5 was obtained after cach pass of
MDF according to the dimensions of the billets. The extruded
3022—Volume 28(5) May 2019
axis was parallel to the initial forging diection. A. 0,05-mm-
thick PTFE film was used to coat the samples as a lubeicant,
and the samples were then pressed ata speed of | man/min for
two, four and six passes. No cracks were detected on the
surface of te billets after two, four and six pastes of MDF
processing
‘The pressed samples were quenched in cold water after each
pass of MDF and then sectioned in the center, parallel to the last
pressing direction to study the microstructural evolution of the
alloy alter extrusion, and MDF processing. The cut surfaces of
the samples were polished by 0.05 jm AIO, and then etched
with a solution of 4.2 g picrie acid, 10 mL acetic acid, 10 mL.
disilled 110, and 70:mL ethanol at room temperature
Scanning electon microscopy (SEM) was employed to exam
ine the microstructural evolution of the material during MDF.
‘The secondary electron imaging at a voltage of 15 kV was
employed for this purpose. The Clemex image analyzer was
crmployed to determine the grain size os the diameter of the
cquivalent citele with the same area. Then, the grain size
distribution was plotted and the average grain size was
caleulated forthe studied samples
‘As cam be soon in Fig 2, texture samples were cut ffom the
MDFed bars perpendicular to the forging direction. The
specimens were frequently immersed in a diluted solution of
HCI for eliminating the polishing eflecs. Texture measure-
ments wete implemented in Philips X’Per diffractometer. The
intensity distibutions of the {0002} pole figures were mea-
sured from the planes parallel the pressing direction for both
extruded and MDFed conditions. The measurement was taken
using Cu Ka radiation (k= 1.54056 A) at SO KV, and tube
current of 30 mA with the sample lt angle from 0° 10 90" and a
scanning, rate of 2"/min
TTo determine the degree of homogeneity, Vickers micro-
hardness was measured on the samples eut perpendicular to the
pressing direction of the extruded and MDFed bars according to
ASTM E384 (Ref 20). Microhardness measurements were
taken in an ILLINOIS-60044 microbardness tester with a
Vickers indenter under a load of 0.5 N for a loading period of
30/3, Measurements were taken over the ental part of the
12 mm x 12 mm section for each sample on a rectilinear grid
pattem of I mm x 1/men squares. Afterward, hardness was
rmeasuted a each ofthese 169 points and 4 points around them
to measure the exact hardness in each point. This measurement
Joumal of Materials Engineering and PerformanceGee,
Fig. 2 Prepa
was repeated for all 169 points to obain the hardness for the
entire sample. The measured H, values were plotted as color-
coded contour maps showing the variation in the local
‘microbardness over the tested section of each extmded of
MDFed sample. The overall macrohardness of the material
under different testing condition was assessed by the Vickers
testing under a load of 30 N for a dwell time of 30 s. To have a
‘more representative hardness data, the hardness of three
separate positions on the surface of three different samples
was measured, and the readings were then averaged.
"The shear punch testing at room temperature was adopted
for the measurement of the strength of the material. Wire cut,
‘machining of the MDFed samples perpendicular tothe pressing.
direction was used to prepare small squate specimens with
nominal sides of 13 mm and 1mm thickness (Fig. 2). The
specimens were then polished down fo 0.7 mm thickness using,
SIC papers. The shear punch fixture used for this experiment is
shown in Fig. 3. This fixture includes a flat eylindvical punch,
with a diameter of 3.21- and 3.26-mm-diameterreceiving-hole,
‘The tests were performed using the same universal tensile
testing machine as that employed for MDF. The load eell had
20 KN capacity, and the tests were performed at a crosshead,
speed of 0.25 mn/min, The instantaneous applied load P was
recorded as a function of punch displacement after application
of the load, and the data were transferred to a computer 10
determine the shear stress and shear strain rate using the
(E91)
(Eq 2)
where dis the average value ofthe punch and die diameters, tis
the specimen thickness, Z isthe punch-displacement rate and
is the die-punch clearance. Thice different samples were tested
for each test condition, and the variations in the measured,
ultimate shear strengths were reasonably small, being approx
imately + 2 MPa,
Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance
stages ofthe texture, microhardness and SPT test samples
Punch:
Main body
Holders
Specimen
Fig. 3 Schematic representation of shear punch die assembly (Ref
19)
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Microstructural Evolution
Due to the low formability of Mg alloys, especially in the
as-cast condition, it is desirable to combine the extrusion
process with MDF. The starting microstructure, therefore,
‘would be a wrought equiaxed recrystallized one, which reduces
the chance of eracking during the severe deformation process of
MDF that is. performed at relatively low temperatures 10
achieve fine grain sizes, The material microstructure after
extrusion and different passes of MDF was examined by SEM,
Figure 4 exhibits the SEM images of the extruded (a), two-pass
MDFed (b), four-pass MDFed (6), and six-pass MDFed (4)
alloys. The microstructure of the extruded material consists of
equiaxed grains having an average grain size of 10.2 jam with a
standard deviation of 4.3 pm, as shown in Fig. 4(a). After two
passes of MDF, a non-uniform microstructure comprising both,
coarse and fine grains is obtained. The new fine grains have
formed at original grain boundaries of the coarser grains by
Volume 28(5) May 20193023,