Hot compression deformation behavior and processing parameters of a cast Mg-Gd-Y-Zr alloy

Hot deformation behavior and processing parameters of the cast Mg-9Gd-4Y-0.6Zr alloy were investigated in this paper. For the purposes, uniaxial compression tests were conducted at the temperatures ranging from 623 K to 773 K and strain rates ranging from 0.001 s(-1) to 1 s(-1). The tests revealed that the apparent activation energy was 209 kJ mol(-1), and that the stress exponents were 3.2 and 5.1 within the low stress regime and high stress regime, respectively. The processing-map technique was utilized to determine the practical processing window. The reasonable process parameters of the cast Mg-9Gd-4Y-0.6Zr alloy were deformation temperatures of 703-723 K and stain rates of epsilon = 0.006-0.03 s(-1). Moreover, the processing parameters were applied to isothermally forging a thin-walled cone used for a projectile head shell. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.