Superplasticity in fine-grained AZ61 magnesium alloy

The effect of grain refinement on the superplasticity of ingot-processed magnesium alloy was investigated. From the AZ61 material with a linear intercept grain size of 5 mu m, which was obtained by the multi-rolling process at an elevated temperature, tensile elongation over 400% could be achieved at 10(-3)s(-1) at 400 degrees C with a maximum value of 560% at 2x10(-4)s(-1) at the same temperature. It was found that grain boundary diffusion controlled grain boundary sliding and pipe diffusion controlled slip creep govern the plastic flow at low and high strain rate ranges, respectively. A deformation map for pure magnesium was constructed to examine the effect of grain size and flow stress on deformation behavior at elevated temperature. The superplastic formability of Mg alloys was demonstrated by forming an AZ61 sheet into a hemi-sphere.